




1*^^^ 



CHRISTIANITY 



DAILY CONDUCT OF LIFE 



STUDIES OF TEXTS RELATING TO 
PRINCIPLES OF THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 



BY 



JAMES MULCHAHEY, S.T.D. 



SECOND EDITION. 



NEW YORK: 
THOMAS WHITTAKER, 

2 AND 3 BIBLE HOUSE. 



MDCCCLXXXIX. 



3 "^^^o I 



Copyright, 1888, by Thomas Whittaker. 



Washington D. C. 



" The kingdom of Heaven is like tcnto leaven, wJiich a wojnan took, and hid in 
three measures of7)ieal, till the whole was leavened." — St. Matthew xiii. 33. 



CHRISTIAXITY 



DAILY COXDLXT OF LIFE 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. 
I. 

II. 



III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

vrii. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

Xll. 

xm. 



PAGE 

THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE . . . .1 

THE PURPORT AND SCOPE OF THE FIRST GREAT 

COMMANDMENT . . . . . '13 

DEVOUTNESS AN ELEMENT OF TRUE CHARACTER 29 

CHRISTIAN HUMILITY 

THE GREATNESS OF HUMILITY 

CHRISTIAN FORGIVENESS . 

CHRISTIAN ANGER 

CHRISTIAN PURITY . 

CHRISTIAN CONSECRATION OF THE BODY 

CHRISTIAN PROFESSION AND USE OF WEALTH . 131 



. 


• 43 


• 


• 57 


• 


• 73 


. 


. 87 


. 


. lOI 


rHE BODY . 


• 115 



CHRISTIAN HONESTY 

CHRISTIAN GIVING : FALSE AND TRUE 

THE SIN OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA 



147 
165 

j8i 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. 

XIV. THE FAULT OF THE ELDER BROTHER . , 

XV. THE FAULT OF THE MAN WITH ONE TALENT 

XVI. Christ's observance of the sabbath . 

XVII. CHRIST IN SOCIETY 

XVIII. Christ's followers in society 
XIX. christian comfort . . 

XX. the christian sense of HEAVENLY CITIZEN 
SHIP 

XXI. THE CHRISTIAN SENSE OF SPIRITUAL COM 
PANIONSHIP 

XXII. THE HOLY SPIRIT IN HUMAN CHARACTER 



PAGE 
197 

211 

225 

275 
291 

307 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



THE writer of this book sent forth the first 
edition without his name, not from excess of 
modesty or, much less, an unwilHngness to bear any 
degree of responsibility that properly attaches to 
one who asks his fellow-men to consider any thought 
of his on either the authority or practical bearings 
of the Christian Religion. It was simply from a 
wish to divest the subject as far as possible of other 
personal associations, and make the book for the 
reader, what its title implies, " Studies " of the 
Master's teachings concerning principles which are 
fundamental in the Christian character. 

Can there be any question of the urgent need of 
such study in our modern Christendom ? Will any 
one maintain that the ideal of character, which 
Christ in his own person exemplified and to the 
inculcation of which his personal ministry was 
directed, is that which is in general acceptation or 



vi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION, 

even that which is clearly aimed at by the most 
devout in the current Christianity of our time ? 

The generally accepted statement of Christ's pur- 
pose in His personal ministry is, that it was to 
introduce and teach the '' Gospel of Salvation." 
But, salvation from what ? and, to what ? 

Scarcely less important is the question, By what ? 
By ceremonial observances, or even by sacramental 
ordinances? Certainly He assigned a very impor- 
tant place to these in the Christian economy; but as 
certainly the most punctilious conformity to them 
may result in a religion of sheer formalism, having as 
little purifying or rectifying effect as the religion of 
the scribes and Pharisees which He so repeatedly 
and emphatically condemned. Is it, then, by the 
process which is known in our modern Christendom 
as that of " a Christian experience," in which the 
stages can be distinctly marked, from the gloom of a 
first " conviction of sin " to the radiant light of ^' con- 
version " and full ** joy and peace in believing " ? Let 
the preciousness of such an experience be conceded ; 
yet still, it must be admitted that one will search in 
vain in our Lord's teachings for a description or 
inculcation of this process ; and it is evident enough 
that it may result in a religion quite as technical 
as that of the Pharisees, and as devoid of any 
power that makes for righteousness, or that can 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. vii 

touch character beyond the mere emotional senti- 
ments that play on its surface. 

With this kind of religion as the current lepre- 
sentative of Christianity, it need not be wondered at, 
however it may be regretted, if a depreciative esti- 
mation of Christianity is found to be plainly and 
increasingly apparent in modern thought and feeling. 
Some attribute this to a decadence of faith, which is 
supposed to be an inevitable consequence of the 
greatly enhanced interest in physical science which 
has been enkindled by our rapid progress in the 
discovery and application of material forces. But 
we doubt the sufficiency, or even the truth, of this 
explanation. 

Admitting all that may be adduced in evidence of 
the determined hostility of materialistic scepticism 
to the Christian faith, we see no reason to conclude 
that either this kind of scepticism, or its special an- 
tagonism to faith has, as yet, any stronghold in the 
general mind, or is very likely to be positively influ- 
ential except in the minds of the comparatively few 
with whose intellectual temperament it is particu- 
larly congenial. Moreover, whatever may be true of 
the materialistic tendencies of the age, it is indisput- 
able that an intense yearning for spiritual faith is an 
increasingly marked characteristic of it. Never be- 
fore were so many looking about for the verifiable 



viii PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

grounds of such faith with earnest longing to find 
therein a foothold for themselves ; never before was 
an awakened interest in the study of the Bible, and 
especially in all that relates to the person and char- 
acter of Jesus, so generally felt ; never before was 
the Christian Faith so buttressed with evidences on 
every side. 

If then there are apparent reasons for an appre- 
hension that faith in Christianity is on the decline, 
is not the truth, rather, that the decline is in the 
appreciation of Christianity, because that which 
stands for it in the popular estimation seems to be 
lacking in any real, regenerative virtue ? Men are 
asking with new interest, What is your Christianity 
good for ? What is it doing for us ? What is its 
productive worth ? And if they see that it is devoid 
of real moral power, that it does not make men, in 
any true sense, better, more trustworthy for honesty, 
purity, truth, or any other virtue, in every-day life, 
it is not very surprising if, in an age which is em- 
phatically practical, they should find it difificult to 
retain confidence in the assurance that its '' pro- 
fession " will guarantee " salvation " in a life that is 
to be hereafter. 

Now there can be no question that Christianity 
came into the world as the Gospel of salvation ; as 
little that the promise of eternal life which its first 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. ix 

preachers held out to all those that believe was one 
of the most potent influences by which, in the Apos- 
tolic age, it drew all men unto Christ. But even in 
that age, peculiarly ripe as it was for a new Faith, the 
claim that Jesus had brought life and immortality 
to light would have enlisted only a fanatical follow- 
ing if the revelation had not at the same time 
brought the life of men even here out of darkness 
into marvellous light, if it had not come to men in 
demonstration of the Spirit and of power with the 
effective energy of a new creation, '^ created after 
God in righteousness and true holiness," thus prov- 
ing not only its divine origin, but also its beneficent 
ability, divinely characteristic, to lift the world out 
of the degradation of its alienated state, to restore 
the fallen children of Adam to their true relation as 
sons of God, and actually work in them with all the 
regenerative virtue of life from above to make 
them, in very deed, meet for the inheritance of 
saints in light. The real secret of the power of 
primitive Christianity to convert the world was in the 
fact that it brought religion — not ceremonialism, nor 
sentimentalism, nor a faithless moralism — but reli- 
gion^ the recognition of man's true relation to God, 
and under it to all his fellow creatures, into the daily 
life and conduct of the world. Our Lord's personal 
teachings were directed to this purpose more than 



X PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

an\' other, to impress men with a sense of the pres- 
ent existence and rule of the Kingdom of God, to 
make them feel that life is in it here and now, and 
to realize that its righteous government extends 
over the whole of life, into its entire conduct, and 
throughout all its relations. The Epistles of the 
New Testament show very clearly that the Apostolic 
teaching fully maintained in this respect the standard 
of the Master. Not even in St. Paul's special insist- 
ence on the fundamental importance of faith, was it, 
in the least decree, lowered. If anv modern Chris- 
tian has fallen into the habit of thinking so. let him 
read over carefully the closing Chapters — beginning 
with the twelfth — of the Epistle to the Romans, and 
let him remember that the definition of Christianity, 
the statement of its nature and purpose, which St. 
Paul himself gave, was nothing less than this: " The 
grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared 
to all men : teaching [" instructing, disciplining, train- 
ing "] us, that denying ungodliness and worldly 
lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, 
in this present world ; looking for that blessed hope, 
and the glorious appearing of the great God and 
our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, 
that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and 
purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of 
good works." 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. xi 

For this purpose and to this end Christianity went 
forth conquering and to conquer in the first cen- 
turies ; and its capabiHty for just this effect — regen- 
erating, enhghtening, purifying, ennobhng a fallen 
race — has ever been its truest test. It is its truest 
test to-day. Men may find plausible reasons for 
scepticism in the seemingly antagonising develop- 
ments of science, the unsettling disclosures of histori- 
cal criticism, or the disturbing theories of philosophi- 
cal speculation, but they can find no pretext or excuse 
for it in the incontrovertible fact that a peasant of 
Galilee, near two thousand years ago, revealed to 
mankind in His own Person an entirely new type of 
character, and laid the foundation of a society in 
which the principles of His life were to be conserved, 
developed, and applied : so that, as Mr. Gladstone 
has finely said, " Down to this day there is not a 
moral question, nor is there a question of duty aris- 
ing in the course of life for any of us, that is not 
determinable in all its essentials by applying to it as 
a touchstone the principles declared in the Gospel." 
The concurrent verdict of twenty centuries has rati- 
fied the conclusion of believers in the first age, that 
He whose ethical wisdom was so widely inclusive 
and far reaching could have been none other than 
God Incarnate; and no one may presume now to 
dissent from it without being constrained to admit, 



xii PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

at least, that His claim is absolutely indisputable 
to be, in unparalleled pre-eminence, the Prince of 
teachers in the domain of morality and religion. 

But again we ask, Is there not in our time an 
urgent need of recalling men, and not least those 
who profess to be His disciples, to the study of His 
teachings? Is there not need of an effort to divest 
the apprehension of them from the unreal, technical, 
professional sense which is commonly put upon them 
in our modern Christianity, and get at their true 
meaning and real application, in honest accordance 
with the Master's intention ? 

This is the attempt of the writer in the following 
pages. He has reason, from the reception which has 
been given to the first edition of the book, to hope 
that it has not been entirely unsuccessful. But no 
one can be more conscious than himself of his inad- 
equate treatment of the subject ; and he can say in 
all sincerity that there will be to him a sufificient 
satisfaction, if, even though by his shortcoming, some 
one fully competent shall be stimulated to take it up, 
and so bring out the whole truth, in demonstration 
of the spirit and of power, as to awaken the Church 
of our day and generation to a lively sense of its 
sorest and most pressing need — that of a thoroughly 
honest Ethical Revival. Jas. Mulchahey. 

St. Paul's Chapel, Trinity Parish, N. Y., 

Feb. 4, 1S89. _ 



CORRIGENDA. 



In Table of Contents, Chapter X. — for " Profession" read 
Possession. 

Page 8, line lo, end — for " . " read : 

53, '• 5 — for " (v. 3) : " read viz. 

67, " 8 — for " faith " read fault, 

85, " 2 — for " leper " read lesser. 

Ill, " 20 — for "perplexities" read the realities. 

131, Title — for " Profession " read Possession. 

152, line 17 — for "strangely" read strongly. 
154, " 4— for "Yea," read Yet. 

T94, " 19 — for " possessions " read professions. 

271, " 16 — for " worldliness " read worldlings. 

320, " 22 — for " lips " read eyes. 



CHAPTER I. 
THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE, 



**Thou shalt love the Lord thy God wiih all thy heart, and with all 
thy soul, and with all thy mind." — St. Matt. xxii. 37. 



T N thinking upon what may be due from us to- 
wards Almighty God we are apt to be confused 
by an apprehension of His infinite superiority to us, 
as if it were the same as His being at an infinite 
distance from us ; and the consequence is that our 
conceptions of the relation which we sustain to 
Him, and the obligations we are under in that 
relation, become fanciful and unreal. 

It may prevent this misapprehension, if, in 
considering the precept of Christ which puts before 
us the love of God as the first and chiefest duty in 
life, we begin by looking at the obligation and 
effect of the same principle in one of the most real 
and unquestionable relationships of this world. God 
hath set " the solitary in families " ; and no obliga- 
tions are more universally seen and felt to be 
pressing and perpetual than those which are involved 
in the relations of the family. Now, none of us 
have any difficulty in understanding and accepting 
the proposition that love in the family relations is 



CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 



the first and chiefest duty : and, if we were asked 
to give the reason, we might be ready to reply, as 
we should be right in replying, that the obligation 
to love our husbands and wives, parents and chil- 
d-en, brothers and sisters, is an obligation which is 
involved in the very nature of these relationships, 
and of such vital character as to be the foundation 
of every other duty. Our obligations in life are all 
dependent on our relations and determined by them. 
We owe to this or that person or thing certain 
duties because we sustain a certain kind and degree 
of relationship toward him or it. There is not the 
meanest thing that grows or exists which may not 
be, or may not be put, in a relation that will involve 
some kind of obligation on our part towards it. 

In the constitution of human life these relation- 
ships with their corresponding obligations are, for 
the most part, clearly defined. First, the general 
comprehensive relationship which we sustain toward 
all men, as fellow beings of the same race, involves 
the obligation of sympathy and opportune mutual 
helpfulness ; then, our relationship with a nearer 
portion of this race, as inhabitants of one particular 
country, involves the obligations of loyal citizenship 
towards the established government of that country ; 
then, in the smaller circle which comprises the 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE. 



community wherein is the sphere of our individual 
lives, there are many relationships, some permanent 
and some only transitory and occasional, to every 
one of which there is its own unquestionable obliga- 
tion. Among these, the relations of the family are 
universally recognized as holding, and being entitled 
to hold the first and chiefest place. As universally, 
the first obligation in the family relations is conceded 
to be that of kindred love. This is the essential, 
fundamental, indispensable, obligation of the family. 
It is the root and head of all its mutual obligations. 
Just in proportion as it is truly felt and exercised is 
every other relative duty sure to be rightly per- 
formed. It is not possible that the life of the 
family can be true, or that its complex web of 
mutual duty can be held together with the least 
beauty or symmetry, unless constantly pervaded and 
directed by love. We may go further, and say that 
not one family duty, of the multifarious obligations 
which are involved in its common life, can be rightly 
or acceptably discharged with an acknowledged 
absence of love. Let the husband or wife claim 
to be ever so punctilious in avoiding marital inde- 
cencies ; let the children be ever so decorously 
obedient, and the brothers and sisters ever so 
mutually polite : yet, let it be acknowledged that all 



CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 



this propriety of deportment is absolutely devoid of 
the impulses of true family affection, and every one 
will say that the life of such a family is thoroughly 
and radically false. 

Now let us carry up this recognition of relative 
obligation to Him who is the Father, of whom the 
whole family in heaven and earth is named. Let 
us remember that while He is the Lord God 
Almighty — " the high and lofty One who inhabiteth 
eternity and dwelleth in the high and holy place," 
He is yet revealed to us as, in the truest possible 
sense, our Father ; and our relation to Him is that 
of children, so closely and vitally that " in Him we 
live, move, and have our being." 

Can there be any question, then, of our obligation, 
and that in the very highest possible degree, to love 
Him ? The only point of doubt might be, whether 
He would care for or accept our love ; and this is 
conclusively answered by the explicit assurances 
of His own revealed word. Even if it were not, 
even if our loving devotion could receive no assuring 
response, the knowledge of our filial relationship in 
such wise towards Him would, in itself, be sufficient 
not only to warrant the exercise within us of the affec- 
tion of loving children to Him, but also to render our 
obligation in that respect most unquestionable and 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE. 



imperative. If filial love is the first duty of a child 
to a parent, and if without this there can be no 
truth of character and no acceptable discharge of 
other relative duties on the part of a child, then, 
from every one of us, towards Him who is our 
Maker and Preserver, in the highest possible sense 
our Father, the duty, which is before and above all 
others, and at the same time the most imperatively 
obligatory and indispensable of all others, is that of 
love. Obviously, this must be the first, animating, 
and dominating principle of all our conduct. With- 
out it, no duty can be acceptable or counted 
righteous before God : with it, and just in propor- 
tion as it is true and rightly exercised, will every 
duty in all the relations of life be true and right. 

Moreover, it is clear in reason as well as in 
religion that our love to God should be supreme, 
above all our other affections, and dominating them 
all : because God Himself is supreme ; the universal 
Parent and Benefactor ; " the Father, of whom the 
whole famiiy in heaven and earth is named." All 
other relationships are but partial ; those with which 
we are knit together in the closest affinities of the 
earthly family are but fragmentary ; while there is 
no break, no difference or inequality, in the uni- 
versal brotherhood which binds us all together and 



CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 



holds US under the perpetual obligation of loving 
devotion, as dear children, to Him. Therefore, 
nothing less than supreme love, love above all and 
comprehensive of all : love which consecrates to His 
service all our faculties, and gives tone and direction 
to the whole conduct of our life ; love which puts 
our relation to Him above all other relations, nor 
only that, but as their originating source and there- 
fore as the determining principle of every obligation 
that we can possibly have and discharge in them. 
Nothing, we say, less or lower than this can be 
adequate as the measure or degree of the love 
which is due from us to our Father in heaven. 

How true it is, then, that the command : "Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind " — that is, 
with the homage of the entire self and nature — is 
the first of all commandments, and how clear that 
it should be accounted the whole of the Law ! We 
could not hold ourselves for a moment excusable in 
not submitting our hearts and lives to this Law, 
even if we had no further revelation of God than 
the single fact of His universal Fatherhood. How 
much more imperative our obligation, and what 
unspeakably winning tenderness in its tones of 
authority when it comes to us from the lips of Him 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE. 



who, having been from all eternity the only begotten 
Son of the Almighty Father, had condescended to 
be made our Elder Brother that our sonship might 
be truly affiliated with His ! As given by Him, this 
command comprises not only the whole of the Law, 
but the whole of Religion also ; and all the sanctions 
of religion are to be recognised as combining, with 
those of natural duty, in calling upon us for an 
entire submission of ourselves, with all our faculties, 
in loving obedience to the Lord our God : the 
Father Almighty, and the Father of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ. 

How this love, or our possession and exercise of 
it, is to be determined by practicable measure and 
directed in practical application, are questions of 
the utmost importance for our consideration. First 
and foremost is the recognition of our obligation 
to love God supremely. 

If it be admitted, we are prepared to see the 
utter worthlessness of mere morality as a substitute 
for religion. Morality is simply external propriety ; 
decent and becoming, certainly, as it moves in the 
circles of social life, but not true even there if it be 
undirected by true motives. How can such mere 
external propriety be righteous before God } How 
can it possibly be acceptable unto Him who dis- 



lo CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

cerneth the very thoughts and intents of the heart ? 
If no punctilious decency of marital behaviour 
without love could, or should, satisfy the heart of 
a loving husband or wife, no obedience of mere 
deportment be satisfactory to a loving father or 
mother, how can we suppose that He in whom 
we all live, move, and have our being, will accept 
from us anything less than the supreme, loving 
homage of our entire hearts and lives ? What can 
the life in its mere form be without the heart ? 
Why, then, should it be thought unreasonable that 
morality cannot be acceptable, cannot be counted 
as other than worthless in His sight, unless it be 
rooted and grounded in religion, — that is, in the 
loving homage which rightly belongs to the filial 
relation that binds us to Him ? 

One thing more, we trust, is made clear : viz., that 
true religion is consistent with our duty in every 
relation of life, and is the only efficient source of 
truth of character. A religious person is simply 
one whose life is regulated by the principle of loving 
obedience to God ; and this loving obedience is 
grounded simply in a true recognition of his 
relation to God. He sees and acknowledges this 
relation as in its true place — above all other rela- 
tions — and therefore feels his obligation to it as 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE, ii 

the first and most imperative of all. The same 
truth of perception and of conscience which he 
exercised in relation to it keeps him also in the 
right attitude in relation to all the lower obligations 
of life. He renders to all their dues : love to whom 
love is due ; honour, to whom honour ; fear, to 
whom fear ; custom, to whom custom : and just 
in proportion as he loves God supremely does he 
cherish true affections, and bear himself with right 
conduct, — with loving fidelity to his family, with 
loyalty to his nation, with honesty and sobriety, 
unswerving integrity and righteousness, — in all his 
dealings with his fellow men. This is the essence 
of religion. For the sake of this, to keep its prin- 
ciple alive in our hearts, we perform all those duties 
in the ordinances of the Church which are known 
as more technically religious. They are in no 
sense a substitute for it : they are absolutely hollow 
and hypocritical without it : they subserve their 
purpose only as they develop in our characters an 
ever truer and stronger exercise of it. We are 
baptized that we may be members of the Body of 
Christ, and so quickened by His Spirit ; we render 
prayer and praise as our homage of loving devotion ; 
we devoutly read Holy Scripture, and thankfully 
receive the ministrations of the Church, to quicken 



12 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE, 

and warm our spiritual sense, — that is, our sense 
of relation to God and the heavenly Word ; and 
we come to the Sacrament of the Altar, that therein 
we may commemorate the infinite love of God in 
giving His only Son to die for us, and that we may 
feed on the heavenly food whereby our life is 
assimilated more and more with His, and we our- 
selves become more and more like Him and really 
identified with Him. So the Church in all its 
sacramental ordinances constantly reiterates the 
command which Christ Himself declared to be the 
first and chiefest of all : " Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
and with all thy mind." So it never fails to connect 
with this the second, which is like unto it : Thou 
shalt also love " thy neighbour as thyself : " the first 
duty in every relation is that of love. Let this be 
true : true in recognising the highest relation as 
the first of all, and true in its measure and degree 
toward all others. All the duties of life will 
spring out in their proper places and proportions, 
and our entire character will have its full-rounded 
symmetry as that of the righteous — ^just before God 
in this world, and, through His grace in Christ 
Jesus, becoming more and more meet for the in- 
heritance of saints in light. 



CHAPTER IL 

THE PURPORT AND SCOPE OF THE FIRST 
GREAT COMMANDAIENT, 



"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
thy soul, and with all thy mind." — St. Matt. xxii. t,-j. ' 



T F the consideration which wc have already given 
to this precept of our Lord has been sufficient 
to inspire within us a conviction of our imperative 
obhgation to love God supremely, then the question, 
How is such love to be measured and practically 
tested ? must be felt by all to be one of the utmost 
practical moment. There is need of our taking this 
question into thoughtful consideration, because the 
misunderstanding of it involves many in uncertainty 
and perplexity. 

Taking the phraseology of the command — ■" Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God ivith all thy heart, and 
with all thy soiil^ and with all thy mindl'' — it would 
seem to leave no room for the exercise or existence 
of any other affection. There is, clearly, no faculty 
of our spiritual nature which is not here required 
to be enlisted, nor is there recognised as allowable 
the least reserve of affection in any of our loving 
faculties ; so that the requirement would seem in 
its terms to be the same thing as saying that we 



i6 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

must love nothing else but God : but this construc- 
tion is evidently absurd, and plainly inconsistent 
with the obligations which devolve upon us in all 
the relationships of life. 

Does the command, then, mean that we are to 
love God more than anything else ? Many would 
reply at once : " Certainly, this is its meaning. We 
may have other loves in proper degree and legitimate 
application ; but we are not to put any other person 
or thing in competition with the love which is due 
to God." This sounds entirely orthodox ; but it is 
to be feared that like many other orthodox phrases 
it is often accepted and used with no adequate 
thought of its true sense. 

We ask any one who has taken this as the 
meaning of the command, if he has ever ascer- 
tained, by any process of self-examination, whether 
he does in truth love God more than anything else. 
What person or thing can one put into that com- 
parison with any propriety or for any satisfactory 
test .-* Those to whom we owe the highest degree 
of affection in our earthly relations would be the 
most obviously suitable. Take, then, the love of a 
husband for the wife ; or of a wife for the husband : 
can any one say, honestly and intelligently, that he 
does love God more than the one or the other of 



THE FIRST GREAT COMMANDMENT. 17 

these ? Can a father and mother honestly say that 
they love God more than they love their child ? 
We dare say that if one is honest with himself he 
will find it impossible to put his love to God, if it 
be true, and his kindred love in either of these or 
other earthly relations, into a scale of comparison, 
and then determine, that in mere degree the one 
outweighs the other. The same assertion might be 
made if we should go very much lower down, and 
take for the comparison our love of any of the 
things of this life which we esteem as good. Let 
it be health, or wealth, or any other thing which 
is desirable, and in its place rightly prized : if we 
consider honestly the degree of our esteem and so 
of our love of it, we shall hardly venture to claim 
that we are conscious of loving God more in any 
intelligible sense than we love it. The truth is, that 
any such comparison must be unsatisfactory, because 
it puts in comparison two things which have no 
common scale of measurement. Every legitimate 
human affection is determined solely by its own 
relation, and is properly dominant, we might even 
say supreme, in that relation. A true husband and 
wife may love each other with the fulness of con- 
nubial affection, and they may love their children 
with equal fulness of affection : you cannot put the 

2 




i8 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

two affections into a scale of comparison so as to 
determine whether or no one in mere degree exceeds 
the other. You cannot ask a loving wife who is 
also a loving mother, to say whether she loves her 
husband or her child one more than the other, because 
she does, or ought to, love each in its own proper 
relation with the full affection of her heart. 

For the same reason, no one can take the love 
which he has, or ought to have, towards Almighty 
God, and put that love into a scale of comparison 
with his legitimate affection for any earthly person 
or thing, so as to determine in his consciousness 
that the one exceeds in degree the other. The 
truth is, it should not be a question of degree at all. 
The difference is not in degree, but in kind. The 
fundamental question is simply as to the nature and 
proper place of relations, with a clear recognition 
of the universal rule, that the claims of a higher 
relation are always superior to those of any lower ; 
therefore, that the claims of that which is highest 
of all must be dominant over all. 

This is the key to the true meaning and practical 
application of the command : "Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul, and with all thy mind." It means that we are 
to recognise our Father in heaven as supreme, and 



THE FIRST GREAT COMMANDMENT. 19 

our relation to Him as far above all other relations. 
Corresponding to it, then, must our loving homage 
and obedience be — first and chiefest of all. Nor 
only that, but, as our relation to Him is the head 
and vital source of all our other relations, so our 
love to Him must be the foundation principle of all 
our other affections. We are to love everything 
else as in Him ; nor can we have any legitimate or 
allowable love for any person or thing which is 
irreconcilable with our love to Him. 

Here it may be asked (and if one is in earnest he 
will be likely to ask with no slight degree of interest), 
does it follow that we are always to be conscious of 
exercising such love to God — love supreme over all, 
and dominating all t When we are consciously 
exercising love in our earthly relations, are we to 
be at the same time conscious of loving God, and 
in our consciousness is our love to Him to be felt 
to be the dominating source of our love for them } 
To which we have no hesitation in answering, No. 
It is, indeed, quite possible that at times the thought 
of our relation to God and of His Fatherly love to 
us may come in to give its sanctifying tone to our 
feelings in the loving contemplation of any earthly 
object ; but, for the most part, our affections in their 
active exercise are absorbing, and we rest consciously, 



20 CHRISTIANITY IN BAIL Y LIFE, 

for the time being, only in the proper object of the 
particular affection. 

In the relationships of this life, husbands and 
wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, 
whose affections are true, may be truly said always 
to love one another ; and yet it would be very far 
from the truth to say that they are always conscious 
of exercising such love. ' There is a passive influence 
of principle as well as that which is active in the 
consciousness ; and this passive power may be con- 
stantly permeating our entire character, swaying our 
motives, directing our thoughts, and determining our 
desires, though we seldom %w'^ it our directly fixed 
attention. " There are under-currents in the ocean 
which act independently of the movements of the 
waters on the surface ; far down too in its hidden 
depths there is a region where, even though the 
storm be raging on the upper waves, perpetual 
calmness and stillness reign. So there may be an 
under-current beneath the surface movements of life," 
and the entire character and conduct may be deter- 
mined by principles whose power per\-ades the very 
depths of being, but whose influence, being exerted 
there, is not perceived or consciously felt among 
the stirring forces of common life. But, observe, 
this influence is none the less, nay, it is even more, 



THE FIRST GREAT COMMANDMENT. 2i 

pervasive and dominant. See how in a family 
whose life meets the true family ideal, the entire 
intercourse of the brothers and sisters with each 
other is directed by mutual fraternal affection ; but 
there is a deeper spring in which all fraternal love 
must have its source. Brothers and sisters have a 
special love for each other because they are brothers 
and sisters — that is, children of common parents. 
The parental relation is above the fraternal ; and, 
therefore, the fraternal affection is true only as it 
has its source and vitality in love for the father and 
the mother. Filial love, then, dominates fraternal 
affection, even though there is no consciousness of 
this love in the active exhibition of such affection. 
There is no possible conflict or incompatibility 
between the two, because each is determined solely 
by its own relation. We love our parents as 
parents ; and we love our brothers because they are 
brothers — that is, children of the same parents with 
us. The fraternal love is in no degree inconsistent 
with the filial love : on the contrary, it is an out- 
growth of it, and so an evidence that our hearts are 
really pervaded by it. As such only can it be true. 
No one can be said truly to love his parents — 
whatever signs of affection he may show directly 
to them — if he hates his brothers and sisters ; nor 



-23 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

can any one truly love these, that is, love them 
as brothers and sisters, if he does not love his 
parents. 

We are now able to see how entirely practicable, 
as well as reasonable, the requirement is, that we 
shall love the Lord our God with all our heart, and 
soul, and mind : for it requires us only to recognise 
our relation to God as the highest of all relations, 
and to have the affection which properly belongs 
to it as such. It implies, of course, that God has 
graciously revealed Himself as our God and Father, 
and the Author of every good and perfect gift that 
we have or can have in life. It comes to us in 
the Christian revelation with an infinitely enhanced 
force, by the unspeakably gracious manifestations 
and proofs of the divine love and compassion for us 
which are afforded in the condescension and sacrifice 
of His only-begotten Son. So there is no lack of 
sufficient motives to win our hearts in uplifting their 
most grateful and admiring affections toward Him ; 
and the spirit of His grace is ever ready to inspire 
these affections and quicken them in the fervour of 
loving devotion. It remains then only for us to be 
true ; to put our highest affection where it rightly 
belongs, and to subordinate all others to it, each in 
its own proper place and degree. This is, surely. 



THE FIRST GREAT COMMANDMENT. 23 

most reasonable and right, as it is clearly the only- 
rule for a full rounded symmetry of character. 

It is as clearly indispensable in truth and integrity 
of life. It is impossible that any human life can be 
true which is not regulated by this principle. Even 
in the lower relations a violation or neglect of one 
obligation vitiates the entire character. No man 
can be a true father who is an unfaithful husband 
or a true brother who is false in his feelings and 
conduct as a son. Let one be ever so honest in his 
business transactions and courteous in his social 
intercourse, yet, if he be at the same time either 
a traitor to his country, or a tyrant or rake in his 
family, one could not with any propriety pronounce 
his character or life worthy of emulation or esteem. 
How much more emphatically is it true, that no 
amount of fidelity in discharging our lower obliga- 
tions can be sufficient, if, at the same time, we be 
indifferent to that relation which is the highest of 
all, and neglectful of its obligations } — " Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God " This is the first and 
greatest commandment. This stands at the head 
of all ; and obedience to this must be recognised as 
the first and most imperative of all. Neglect of it 
must, necessarily and inevitably, vitiate the entire 
character, and radically impair the whole life ; 



24 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE, 

while, on the other hand, the more truly and com- 
pletely our life is regulated by it, the more nearly 
does character reach perfection, and the more surely 
does life fulfil its true purpose and attain its true 
end. 

We have already made an inferential note of 
the worthlessness of mere morality as a substitute 
for religion. Our further consideration of the 
subject has been to but little purpose if it has 
not led us to see that religion, as distinguished 
from simple morality, is a true requirement of our 
nature and being. Some kind of affection, as deter- 
mined in each case by the special relation, must be 
at the root of all genuine conduct. It is this which 
gives character to our conduct as human beings, 
which makes our actions praiseworthy or blame- 
worthy and not the irresponsible movements of mere 
machines. Take this inspiration out of our human 
life, and we become mere living skeletons, and all 
our movements on the stage of existence, however 
decorous in outward seeming, are but those of 
corpses, dead forms, bodies without souls. How 
terrible must be the loss, how fatal the defect, if the 
deepest inspiration, that which comes from the 
highest relation and includes within it the principles 
of all the rest, be absolutely wanting ! How is such 



THE FIRST GREAT COMMANDMENT, 25 

a life emptied of that which can alone give it true 
character or fill it with true enjoyment ! How 
stunted its growth ; how dry and hard its very best 
performances of duty and its highest reachings 
after happiness ! , On the other hand, how full 
rounded is his character, how genuine his life, how 
spontaneous his response to every call of duty, how 
quickened and warmed with all joyous inspirations, 
in whom the love of God has its rightful place as 
the affection of his highest relation, and who holds 
all others in their true subordinate relations to it ! 
Duty in any relation is to him no hard constraint, 
but it is everywhere the spontaneous outgrowth and 
product of his vital impulses. 

This suggests, as matter for serious reflection, 
how radically defective any religion must be which 
is rooted in lower motives than the love of God. 
There is much that passes for religion, which begins 
and ends only in regard for self, which has no higher 
conception of duty than to do that which is necessary 
to secure the salvation of self: this selfish motive 
being its loftiest inspiration, this selfish end its noblest 
aim. There need be no undue depreciation of 
self-regard, or, in its proper place, of desire for self- 
preservation and advancement. This motive has its 
place, in which it is legitimately one of the most 



26 CHRISTIANITY IN DAIL Y LIFE. 

spurring motives of action in life : but it is not 
religion : it is simple selfishness. It may be legiti- 
mate : selfishness in a good sense ; and as such it 
may stimulate our grateful appreciation of the mercy 
of God in Christ Jesus, and spur us on to earnest 
activity in working out our salvation : but it is 
selfishness still ; and, if it be our only motive, or our 
highest motive, for serving God, if it be put in the 
place of that love to Him which springs from a true 
religious sense of His relation to us as our God and 
Father, then it is selfishness in the worst possible 
sense and application. Its effect will be, not to 
develop in us a true character, but to work in us the 
subtlety of self-satisfaction with a mock humility, 
and a constant proclivity to intrigue, deceit, and 
dishonesty, in all our intercourse. 

There is need of self-examination which will 
bring us to a true self-knowledge here. There is 
need to ask ourselves what our own conception of 
religion is, and what the real inspiring motive of our 
religion — that which is, or is supposed to be, religion, 
in our own hearts and lives } In considering this 
question, and trying to get it honestly answered, 
let no one of us be content with the standard of 
those who measure themselves among themselves, 
but let us rather take the only true standard, that 



THE FIRST GREAT COMMANDMENT. 27 

of the divine relation and the divine love toward 
us. Then, if we do, in truth, desire to know what a 
sense of this relation should work in us, and really 
to attain it, let this inspired prayer be taken as 
our ideal : that He, " who is the Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in 
heaven and earth is named," would " grant you, 
according to the riches of His glory, to be 
strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner 
man ; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by 
faith ; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 
may be able to comprehend, with all saints, what is 
the breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; 
and to know the love of Christ, which passeth 
knowledge, that ye might be filled v^ith all the 
fulness of God." 



CHAPTER III. 

DEVOUTNESS AN ELEMENT OF TRUE 
CHARACTER. 



' ' A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which 
gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway." — Acts x. 2. 



" A DEVOUT man," that is, a man whose 
. habitual tone of mind was devotional, 

inspired by religious affections and principles : a 
man who was habitually mindful of his relation to 
God, and whose conscience was quickened with a 
constant recognition of His righteous claim to 
reverent and loving obedience. The rest of the 
description follows as simply filling out the picture 
in detail : " One that feared God with all his 
house, which gave much alms to the people, and 
prayed to God alway." 

The first important point for us to notice here, is 
that this man was — not one of the Apostles, not a 
priest, not a prophet, not a saint in any especial or 
exclusive sense — but simply a soldier ; and that, too, 
in a heathen army : possibly, brought up a heathen, 
and, certainly, not more, in his relation to the 
kingdom of God, than a Jewish proselyte of the 
gate. He was captain of an Italian cohort, stationed 
in Caesarea as body-guard of the Roman Procurator. 



32 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

The plain inference, then, is, that the type of 
character here indicated is consistent with any 
calHng and compatible with any occupation in life. 

This is a truth which needs to be specially 
emphasized in the present day and generation. It 
is but too obvious that the tendency of life in this 
age is not towards devoutness. The influences and 
interests of our time aim in an opposite direction. 
The devout spirit is not the spirit of the age ; and a 
devout man has come to be considered an exceptional 
kind of character. Indeed, it is very generally as- 
sumed, that devoutness must be exceptional : that, 
in the busy work of life, and amid the engrossing 
demands of its practical concerns, there can be no 
opportunity for the exercise of devout habits or the 
cultivation of devout affections or tastes. It is 
doubted by many, perhaps we may say the majority, 
if a devout character ought, on the whole or in the 
general, to be a matter of aspiration. Its place, if it 
have any place, is supposed to be only among those 
— such as the clergy and a few others — whose 
business is in religion ; but in the common work of 
our weekday life it would be impracticable : quite 
out of keeping with the ordinary habits and 
legitimate interests of a man of work or of business ; 
possible only in persons of special temperament, and 



DEVOUTNESS. 33 



even in them a hindrance rather than a help in the 
part which they must needs take in carrying on the 
affairs of the world. 

Now, this is worthy of serious consideration ; 
and it is hardly possible to over-estimate the 
importance of right thinking and a true con- 
clusion in this matter. 

As Christians, or on the ground of Christian 
principles, the only possible conclusion is that 
devoutness should not be an exceptional type 
of character ; that, on the contrary, it is obligatory 
upon all ; that every person who receives the 
call of the Gospel of the Son of God receives 
therein a call, and that most imperative, to the 
submission of his heart and life to such a constant 
predominating recognition of his relation and 
obligations to God, as will inspire the whole tone 
and temper of his mind with the spirit of 
devoutness ; and this so necessarily and universally, 
that no one can hope for acceptance with God, 
or for salvation under the conditions of the Gospel, 
whose spirit and temper is not so inspired, whose 
life and conversation, however busy or exemplary 
in other respects, is still unmoved by those 
principles and affections which are included in 
godliness and constitute the devout character. 

3 



34 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

So unquestionable is this, that it would seem 
superfluous to quote from the New Testament 
passages in proof of it : and yet there may be 
need of such references for reminders. We may 
need, especially if while professing to be Christians 
we are inclined to fall in with the modern way 
of thinking, to be brought face to face with the 
standard of character which is explicitly required 
by the teachings of our Lord and His inspired 
Apostles, and to ask ourselves plainly, what we 
suppose these teachings to mean and require 
of us. 

We may consider, for this purpose, first, the 
type of character which is marked in the entire 
record of the earthly life of Jesus our Saviour. 
It is most certain that His was a devout life ; 
most certain that a sense of his relation to God 
the Father, the maintenance of constant communion 
with Him, the devoted, faithful, and loving doing 
of His will, was the predominant motive by which 
the entire character of Jesus, in every relation and 
taking in its every deed and word, was swayed. 
The only question then for us is, whether we 
do or do not take that life for our example } If 
not, we can have no claim on His redeeming 
grace : but if it be so acknowledged, then, most 



DEVOUTNESS. 3$ 



certainly devoutness must have its place, and must 
be the predominant trait in our own character. 
Like Him, it must be our meat and drink to do 
the will of God : like Him, communion with God 
must be the most real, most conscious, most 
pervasive and most sustaining experience of our 
hearts. 

Take, next. His precepts and promises ; from 
first to last pointing heavenward, keeping the 
heavenly word and its relations, the obligations 
thereby imposed and the rewards therein secured, — 
keeping these ever before His disciples, and making 
them the supreme object and end of all endeavour 
or aspiration in life on earth. What is our 
acceptance of such teaching ? Can it be accepted 
in any real sense without lifting our life out of 
the low murky atmosphere of mere worldliness into 
the brightness of that light which cometh from 
heaven, and by which heaven, not earth, is seen 
and felt to be our true home ? 

Take, again, the uniform admonitions and 
descriptions of the inspired Apostles. Do they 
rest in the inculcation of any virtues which are 
the possible products of an indevout temper ? Do 
they stop short, anywhere or for any person, of 
declaring godliness of mind and heart — that com- 



36 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

munion with God, that habitual looking to Him, 
trusting in Him, seeking His will and aiming at 
His glory, which constitutes devoutness of spirit — 
to be the one essential and indispensable charac- 
teristic ? The question then for us is. What do we 
take this to mean ? and what does it really mean 
in practical application to our own hearts and lives ? 
Are we content with respectable and becoming 
behaviour among our fellows in this world ? Are 
we satisfied with even a punctilious performance 
of the ceremonial requirements and ritual regu- 
lations of the Christian Church ? What possible 
part or lot, then, have we in that life whose 
affections are set on things above, not on things 
on the earth, — whose truest experience is that 
which finds satisfaction in no earthly object, but 
which is hid in sacred communion with Christ in 
God ? What participation can we possibly claim 
in those characteristics which, in every Epistle and 
throughout the New Testament, are insisted upon 
as absolutely indispensable in the Apostolic ideal 
of the Christian character ? In what possible 
sense can it be claimed that our " conversation is 
in heaven " ? What possible application, in our 
own experience, of such a prayer as that which an 
Apostle presumed to offer for Christians whose 



DEVOUTNESS. 37 



education and early training had been in no 
better school than that of heathenism ? — that 
" Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that 
ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be 
able to comprehend with all saints what is the 
breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to 
know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, 
that ye might be filled with all the fulness of 
God." 

Surely it is very clear, that, if we make any 
claim to the Christian name, or presume to hope 
for salvation on Christian conditions, we must admit 
the indispensableness of a devout temper, of the 
habitual possession and exercise of those godly 
affections and principles which characterise the 
devout spirit, to be really known and felt in our 
own individual living experience, to do their perfect 
work within our hearts, and be the directing and 
moulding principles of our lives. 

There are, beyond doubt, some very real and 
formidable hindrances which every one who has, 
or seeks to attain, this spirit must meet. There 
are hindrances within and without ; both the flesh 
and the world are full of temptations to accept 
them as insurmountable, or to induce us only to a 
resistance so merely spasmodic, so hopeless and 



38 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

faint-hearted, that it can result in nothing but 
failure. 

There is, in the first place, to every one of us, 
the hindrance of a nature which is fallen, and which 
has inborn propensities, not spiritual, not towards 
godliness and the communion of Heaven, but carnal 
towards worldliness and sensual gratification. In 
just so far as these propensities have been indulged 
by any of us, they have grown into habitual strength ; 
in many, even so far as to have become predominant 
and all-controlling ; and in all, sufficient to require 
more than natural strength for their resistance. 
Hence the need of regenerating and sanctifying 
grace, which is one of the very first principles in the 
religion of Christ, and which by all Christian teachers 
is insisted on as an indispensable requisite for every 
person. Happy indeed are they who have been 
within the sphere of such grace from their very 
infancy, and whose inner motives have been ever 
under its influence. Happier still they who, from 
the first, have ever willingly submitted themselves 
to this blessed influence, so that the principles and 
affections of the regenerate nature have become 
their readiest and most spontaneous motives, quicken- 
ing their thoughts, and stirring their impulses as by 
natural bent and inclination. In them, as in the 



DEVOUTNESS. 39 



Divine Exemplar, the prince of this world finds 
nothing predisposed to his tempting power. Let 
it be granted that they are but the few. Let it be 
admitted that with the immense majority — the mass 
of mankind — the infection of nature is, not only 
an ineradicable taint of depraved birth, but a root 
of evil which has grown with their growth and 
strengthened with their strength. Still, we claim 
that there is no sufficient reason which any one 
within the sound of the Gospel may plead in justifi- 
cation or excuse for remaining devoid of at least 
the elementary experience of a devout spirit. The 
fallen condition of our nature has not left it entirely 
void of religious affections or insensible to religious 
obligations. As the covenant of grace was intended 
to include all men in its provisions, the influences of 
the Spirit of grace are so universally vouchsafed as 
to quicken devout impulses and aspirations in every 
human breast. Man is by nature, even in his fallen 
condition, a " religious animal " ; and to be absolutely 
without religion is not only unchristian but unnatural; 
so unnatural as to be impossible except as the result 
of a lifelong disuse and suppression of impulses, 
affections, and aspirations, with which every human 
being is endowed, and by which our human nature 
is most characteristically distinguished from that of 



40 CHRISTIANITY IN BAIL V LIFE. 

the mere animal creation. For every such suppres- 
sion or disuse a man must be held culpable ; and 
if the end in any case be the final forfeiture of the 
spiritual heritage, it will be but the legitimate conse- 
quence of this sin against his own nature as well as 
against God. 

On the other hand, with simply a true recognition, 
in the first place, of its requirements, and then an 
honest endeavour, fairly followed up and persisted in, 
to 'meet them, there is ever a sure concurrence and 
constant aid of divine grace sufficient for every need 
and equal to the surmounting of every hindrance. 
Then there is an added advantage of enlisting in the 
cultivation of devout characteristics, the powerful aid 
of the law of habit, by which every devout thought 
or feeling takes on an immense accumulative force 
and moves onward in the right direction with 
accumulative energy. 

Let not, then, the thought, that the devout spirit 
is in any sense a necessarily exceptional thing, that 
it belongs to peculiar temperaments or is congenial 
only with some particular occupations, and therefore 
is not attainable except for some particular persons, 
— let not this thought have place in any mind even 
for a moment. The devout temper is simply the 
true temper in all human character ; no human life 



DEVOUTNESS. 41 



can be true which is not inspired by it ; it is not 
only possible for all, but required of all, and there- 
fore the only question in relation to it should be 
this — whether it has its rightful place or not in our 
character ? 

In considering this question, let us clearly under- 
stand what character really is, and how essential its 
place and purpose in all human life. We cannot 
see it, and must not look for it on the surface. 
That is the stage of activities, which are so largely 
dependent on circumstances, and determined by 
conventional proprieties, as to make them the criteria 
of little more than the texture of life. But, far 
down in its most solitary depth, there is in every 
life a vital spring of the impulses which give both 
tone and direction to the thoughts and feelings, the 
affections, aspirations, and principles, which constitute 
that person's character. It is true of every human 
being that the habitual tone and temper of his mind 
is determined by this secret influence within. It is 
also true that it is the most solemn and momentous 
of all the responsibilities of our individuality to 
determine that it be pure and true. We must be 
habitually either one or the other ; devout, or in- 
devout ; God-fearing, or God-forgetting ; spiritually 
minded, or carnal. The question for every one to 



42 CHRISTIANITY IN DAIIY LIFE. 

decide is, which ? In this question is involved the 
determination of all that is essential in present being 
or in everlasting destiny. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CHRISTIAN HUMILITY, 



"All of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with 
humility." — i St. Peter v. 5. 



T T is undoubtedly true that most of the practical 
precepts of Christianity are but a clear expres- 
sion of those principles of righteousness which have 
been I'ecognised and accredited universally by the 
human conscience ; and it does not detract in the 
least from the authority of the Gospel as a divine 
revelation if the substance of its morals may be 
found in the best schools of human philosophy. 
We should expect this. Unless we are prepared to 
rest in the monstrous theory that the fallen con- 
dition of our race is a state of entire exclusion from 
all the influences of divine grace, so that not even 
the conscience is enlightened with any of the in- 
spirations of truth and holiness, we should expect 
that whatever apprehensions of right may have been 
granted through either the intuitions of reason or 
the judgment of experience would be, not con- 
tradicted, but confirmed by the clearer method 
of a direct revelation. We are not at all surprised 
if this is the fact : if something like the " Golden 



46 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

Rule " of the Gospel is found among the sayings 
of Confucius ; an approximation to its precepts of 
justice, mercy, and truth, in the philosophy of 
Plato ; something like its recognition of a common 
brotherhood in the meditations of Marcus Antoninus. 
Christian morality is by no means identical with 
human morality. It is, as we should also expect 
a divine revelation would be, far clearer in its 
directions and higher in its principles. Compare, 
in the very instances to which we have referred, 
the clear, explicit, authoritative precepts of Christ, 
with the hesitating, qualified, and uncertain utterances 
of the old heathen moralists : and it cannot be 
denied that the one bears the unquestionable im- 
press of a divine revelation, while the other is 
marked by the up-reaching efforts of human wisdom. 
Nor is the superiority in clearness or practical 
explicitness only. There are, in the morals of Chris- 
tianity, fundamental principles, which could never 
have been propounded or understood through any 
lower authority than that of revelation from above. 
Its first and greatest commandment — " Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with 
all thy soul, and with all thy mind," — this, plainly, 
could not have been given without the revelation 
of God in His personal character and relations. So 



CHRISTIAN HUMILITY. 47 

also with the prime virtue of the Gospel — faith, 
and, especially, faith in Christ as the Saviour : very 
clearly, this could not be inculcated or exercised 
without the revelation of the loving Father and the 
all-sacrificing Son. Not only toward God, but to 
our fellows also, the Christian revelation introduces 
new principles of duty as it discloses new relations. 
Our mutual obligations in all the relations of life — 
in the family, in business, in citizenship — are placed 
on much higher ground and invested with holier 
sanctions than it is, or could be, possible to find 
in any system of morality where the revelation had 
not been given. Even the common duty of mutual 
esteem and helpfulness is elevated, from the mere 
admission of a common race with its mutual needs, 
up into a realisation of loving intercommunion in 
the everlasting relationship of a common brother- 
hood. 

There is at least one entire class of precepts 
which are found only in Christian teaching — viz., 
those which designate and inculcate Jiitmility as a 
grace or virtue : such, for instance, as the following, 
in the teachings of our Saviour. " Blessed are the 
poor in spirit ; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, 
Blessed are the meek ; for they shall inherit the 
earth." "Whosoever shall humble himself as a 



48 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of 
heaven." " Whosoever will be great among you, 
let him be your minister ; and whosoever would be 
chief among you, let him be your servant ; even as 
the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but 
to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.'' 
" He that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he 
that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Likewise 
in the inspired teachings of his Apostles. " Put on, 
therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, 
bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, 
meekness, long-suffering." " Let nothing be done 
through strife or vain glory ; but in holiness of 
mind let each esteem other better than themselves." 
" Humble yourselves in the sight of God, and He 
shall lift you up." 

These and many other similar texts are parallel 
with the passage in which the Apostle directs us to 
" be clothed with humility " : to put it on and have 
it girt about us — a peculiarly betokening charac- 
teristic of the Christian temper. 

Nothing like this class of precepts can be found 
in any heathen or unchristian moralist. The old 
Roman word for virtue meant bravery^ manly, self- 
reliant heroism : the Greek word meant that which 
is beautiful or becoming. There was no place in 



CHRISTIAN HUMILITY. 49 

either conception for humility as a possible grace or 
element of a virtuous character. The reason is clear. 
Because, without the revelation of the loving con- 
descension of Almighty God and of the voluntary 
humility of His only-begotten Son, there was really 
no basis for it. 

In any system it is true, indeed, that vanity — that 
is, an inordinate estimation of our own merit — is 
counted blameworthy ; but humility is more than a 
freedom from vanity ; the precepts of the Gospel 
plainly imply in it a lowly estimation of our own 
merits and a subjection of ourselves to others. Now, 
\{ men simply compare themselves among themselves, 
if there be no higher standard than the common 
average of human worth, what reason would require 
that any one should esteem other better than him- 
self ? If I stand with my brother or my neighbour 
simply on that ground, why should I or he have 
or desire to have any other than a fair and just 
estimation of our mutual capabilities ? If I am 
as strong, or as wise, or as virtuous, as he, why 
should I not be aware of it, and, if necessary, assert 
it ? What effect could my self-depreciation have, 
except to beget insincerity of feeling and expression 
in myself, and to foster vanity and arrogance in him ? 
It is no wonder, then, that we do not find humility 

4 



so CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

reckoned as a virtue in any human system of 
morality. For, in the mutual obligations of mere 
human relationships, there is really no basis for it 
and no propriety in it. The only rule which even 
modesty would prescribe, on that ground, is, that 
no one should claim for himself more than a true 
estimate of his merits would fairly entitle him to. 

Let us come now into the light of the revelation 
of the Son of God. Let us come, all alike, in 
our common human qualities, not without our 
several endowments of capability, but yet conscious, 
every one, of shortcomings and personal failures, 
and therefore really dissatisfied every one with him- 
self, and wishing that he were something better than 
he is ; — let us come thus to the disclosures of 
revelation : let us then learn what Almighty God, 
the Creator of heaven and earth, is towards us ; 
what He hath done for us, what we owe to Him, 
and on what conditions we hold our several allot- 
ments in this life ; — and how could it be longer 
possible for us to have any other than a lowly 
estimation of ourselves, or not to wish that we 
might be ever more and more helpful to others } 
Consider what the revelation discloses to us to this 
effect 

It is a revelation, first and chlefest, of GOD. It 



CHRISTIAN HUMILITY. 51 

makes Him known to us, not only as the Almighty 
Creator and Ruler of the universe, but as the Author 
of our being, the great Father who made us for 
Himself, who loveth us and desireth our love. It 
tells us how this world in which we have our 
present life came to be in its present disordered 
state, and how insensibility to our divine relation- 
ship and alienation in our affections from God came 
to be, as we know they are, possible and even 
natural in our characteristics. Then it disclosed to 
us the all-merciful compassion of God : that He 
willeth not that any should be lost, but would have 
all men to be saved. It reveals to us the consenting 
will of His only-begotten Son ; and tells of His self- 
sacrifice, infinite in its nature and worth, but per- 
fectly willing and all-loving in motive : how that He, 
very God of very God, became very man, and in His 
manhood set an example to all men in righteousness 
and true holiness, and finished His earthly life by 
the offering up of Himself on the cross as a full, 
perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfac- 
tion, for the sins of the whole world. 

Such a revelation must needs affect, and that 
very thoroughly, our sense of relationship and of obli- 
gations toward both God and our fellow-men. As 
before God, the Father who so loved and cared for 



52 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

US and the Son who submitted to so infinite a sacri- 
fice for our redemption, how penitent, how contrite, 
how self-abased in our conviction of unworthiness 
and sinfulness, ought we to be ! Then, in relation 
to our fellow-sinners, — inasmuch as they with us 
were involved in a common calamity, and have been 
made partakers of a common redemption, — what 
mutual sympathy and mutual helpfulness should be 
excited in the common gratitude to the Divine 
Redeemer ! And, since in His great redemptive 
work He became our Elder Brother and in that our 
perfect Exemplar, what common emulation should 
there be to have within us all the impulses of His 
Spirit and to fashion our entire life and character in 
His likeness ! 

Here we have in Christian Ethics the basis of 
humility and its indispensable obligation. It is no 
mere characteristic of natural temperament. It is 
no mere nervous diffidence, nor self-conscious bash- 
fulness, nor inexperienced timidity, nor formal 
modesty. It requires no affected nor even sincere 
depreciation of the good gifts and endowments of 
mind, body, or estate, which it hath pleased God, 
our Father, of His bounty to bestow upon us. It 
consists not in the utterance of technical religious 
phrases, which, however true originally as expressions 



CHRISTIAN HUMILITY, 53 

of unworthiness, have become, In the repetition, but 
meaningless cant ; nor even In a sense of unworthi- 
ness Is It to be found, if that sense be only technical 
and held only as a general requirement of religion. 
But it is just this, and nothing but this (v. 3) : the 
having within ourselves, ruling our dispositions, 
directing our tempers, moulding and fashioning our 
entire lives, tJu mind of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. It has its root In a true apprehension of 
His condescension to us and our consequent admis- 
sion to union with Him. It has its outworking 
under the constant desire to realise in ourselves the 
characteristic Inspirations of His Spirit, and to be, 
more and more truly In heart and life, one with 
Him, because He hath condescended to be One with 
us. He was " meek and lowly " : in Him this was, 
indeed, the result of an Infinite condescension of 
love, to which In us there can be no parallel. But, 
for us, In view of It, how despicably Insolent Is any- 
thing like pride or vanity ! How only becoming, 
and how Indispensable In truth of character, a deep 
prostration of spirit, a convicted confession of our 
unworthiness, a grateful self-renunciation in accepting 
the provisions of the great sacrifice, and a tender 
sympathy in every fibre of our souls with all for 
whom, in common with us. He made Himself, 



54 CHRISTIANITY TN DAILY LIFE. 

through such condescension and sacrifice, the 
Saviour ! 

Humility is clearly, then, not only a Christian 
virtue, but it is, as the Apostle represents it, a 
peculiarly characteristic virtue of the Christian : for 
to be clothed upon with humility is nothing less 
than to have " put on the Lord Jesus," and to have 
His Spirit animating and ruling our entire life. In 
this sense, the call comes to every disciple of Christ, 
for a personal application of the Apostolic precept, 
" All of you be subject one to another, and 
be clothed with humility." We see how subjection 
to others, or self-sacrifice for the good of others, is 
here connected with humility, and we understand 
why it is so connected : because, in the Apostle's 
conception, to be humble is simply to be Christ-like. 
He — the only begotten Son of God, almighty and 
everlasting — made Himself of no reputation ; took 
upon Him the form of a servant ; submitted to 
every species of privation, of indignity, of reproach, 
for the purpose of saving our sinful world ! His 
example is our model. Ours, indeed, in very humble 
measure and degree ; for we are sinners, while He is 
all holy ; we need to look up in adoring faith and 
grateful love from the abasement of penitence, 
while in Him the condescension was the voluntary 



CHRISTIAN HUMILITY. 



sacrifice of love infinitely compassionate ; but still, in 
saving us, He identifies Himself with us, and takes 
all our poor endeavours into sanctified union with 
His perfect righteousness. Therefore we may and 
should be humble ; therefore we should be subject 
one to another ; and while all are alike in the need 
of penitent prostration before God, each has in 
love the strongest motive to esteem other better 
than himself " Put on, therefore, as the elect of 
God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, 
humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering." 
" Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ 
Jesus : who, being in the form of God, thought it 
not robbery to be equal with God ; but made Him- 
self of no reputation, and took upon Him the form 
of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men : 
and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled 
Himself and became obedient unto death, even the 
death of the cross." Participation in His humility 
is one essential qualification for participation in His 
holiness. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE GREATNESS OF HUMILITY. 



"Whosoever therefore shall humhle himself as this little child, the 
same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." — St. Matt, xviii. 4. 



'^1^0 see clearly the bearing and import of this 
saying of our Lord, it is necessary to recall the 
circumstances preceding as well as those connected 
with the occasion on which it was uttered. 

It was near the close of His ministry, and He 
had just made with His disciples an extensive tour 
throughout Galilee. On this tour He had spoken 
to them, more freely than ever before, about His 
kingdom and the position which they were to 
occupy in it. He had also seemed to intimate that 
to some of them might be assigned a higher rank 
than to others ; or, at least, that they might not all 
be admitted to the same degree of intimate con- 
fidence with Him. He had permitted only three of 
their number — viz., Peter, and James, and John — to 
see His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration ; and 
to Peter alone He had said : " Thou art Peter, and 
upon this Rock I will build my Church, and the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it : and I will 
give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; 
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be 



6o CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose 
on earth, shall be loosed in heaven." 

It was, as we may well suppose, the seeming pre- 
ference, thus shown, that led to a discussion among 
the disciples as to their relative claims to distinction 
in the Messiah's kingdom ; and, the Evangelist tells 
us, " they disputed among themselves who should be 
greatest." This was on the way, as they were 
going towards Capernaum. Our Lord, though aware 
of their disputation, seemed to have taken no notice 
of it at the time. When they had entered into 
that town and had come into the house where they 
sojourned, He called them around Him and asked : 
" What is it that ye disputed among yourselves by 
the way t " In the consciousness of having indulged 
a temper which He would not approve, they made 
no reply. Then He called a little child, and set him 
in the midst of them, and said : '' Verily, I say unto 
you, except ye be converted, and become as little 
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of 
heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble him- 
self as this little child, the same is greatest in the 
kingdom of heaven." 

Wonderful words these ! They must have seemed 
very wonderful to the disciples at the time. They 
were such words as had never been heard on earth 



THE GREATNESS OF HUMILITY. 6i 

before. Christ Himself had, indeed, said something 
like it in His Sermon on the Mount, when He pro- 
nounced a blessing on the meek and poor in spirit. 
He had also, we cannot doubt, more than once in His 
intercourse with His disciples, taught them in words, 
as He continually showed them by His example, that 
His service required humility and would not tolerate 
pride and self-conceit. What He teaches them 
here is not only that humility rather than pride is 
acceptable with God, but also that in His kingdom 
on earth the standard of distinction was to be directly 
the reverse of that which had always obtained in the 
world, so that the humblest man should be esteemed 
the greatest, and the man who would seek the least 
for himself should obtain the most. Taking a little 
child, free, as little children are, from pride, from 
ambition, from lust, from any disposition or skill to 
scheme for its own advantage. He placed this child 
before them, and said : " Whosoever shall humble 
himself as this little child^ the same is greatest in the 
kingdom of heaven." 

Were the disciples able to understand this saying 
then ? It is very doubtful. This is, in truth, a 
hard saying : a saying which cannot be really under- 
stood by any but those who have been fully taught 
by the Spirit of Christ. The men of this world 



62 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 



have never been able to understand it. In all their 
schemes for the attainment of greatness this rule has 
no place. They know how to be great, by super- 
seding, and supplanting, and over-mastering others ; 
they know how to become great, by getting rich, 
by making themselves distinguished, by obtaining 
power ; they covet such greatness, and are univer- 
sally striving for it : but, to be great as Christ here 
directs, to be great by an absolute abandonment of 
selfishness, by an entire withdrawal of their minds 
and hearts from all schemes for their own aggrandise- 
ment, by becoming as unscheming, unambitious, art- 
less, unsuspicious, unpretending, and lowly minded 
as a little child ! that is something they do not 
understand, an attainment they do not covet. 

Do we understand it } We, who profess and call 
ourselves Christians, who have had the advantage of 
growing up in the school of Christ from our very 
infancy, and who have the history of eighteen 
centuries in which to learn how the principles of 
His religion are exemplified : do we understand 
what is meant by the greatness of humility ? how it 
is that we may become more eminent than all, 
not through any process of self-exaltation, but by 
humbling ourselves lower than all, by being like 
children among proud, ambitious, and selfish men.-* 



THE GREATNESS OF HUMILITY. 63 

" Oh yes," some may be ready to answer, " we 
understand it very well. It means that we are not 
to be self-righteous : that we are not to expect to 
be saved on account of any merits of our own, but 
only through the atonement of Christ ; and that, in 
order to have an interest in that atonement, we must 
confess ourselves to be guilty before God, having 
the spirit of the Publican who said: 'God be merciful 
to me a sinner,' instead of that of the Pharisee who 
boasted of his own righteousness." 

Very well. If you understand this to be its 
meaning, you have, at least, a glimpse of the truth. 
But are you quite sure that you understand correctly 
even this much } You are using technical language. 
It is language with which we have always been 
familiar, as it is found in the Bible, and there is no 
slight danger of self deception in using it. There 
is not infallible evidence that we really understand 
what Christian humility is, in the mere fact that we 
are accustomed to use the language which expresses 
it. A man may be very proud, intensely selfish, 
and devoted with his whole soul to his own 
aggrandisement, and yet be accustomed to speak of 
himself in very pious and humble phrases, and even 
to make a sort of boast of his freedom from self- 
righteousness or anything like dependence on his 



64 CHRISTIANITY TV DAILY LIFE. 

own merltoriousness. Nor does this necessarily 
involve conscious insincerity. For if one have, as 
many do have, a mere technical conception of human 
depravity and its cure in justification, he may really 
be sincere in confessing himself a miserable sinner, 
without the slightest abatement of his pride. If I 
understand, when I confess myself a sinner before 
God, and as such justly deserving of His wrath, that 
I am only making an orthodox statement of the 
guilty condition of our fallen nature, and if I therefore 
mean merely to confess that I am in the same 
unhappy category with all others of mankind, and 
have not at the same time any distinct consciousness 
of my own individual shortcomings and sins, — why, 
then I may make this confession in the strongest 
scriptural terms and be sincere in making it, and yet 
be full of the spirit of self-conceit and self-seeking. 
Ay, in the very use of this confession I may find 
food for pride, since I may think myself, because of 
it, to be singled out for God's favour above others. 
So the declaration of St. Paul, " By the grace of 
God I am what I am," may be perverted into a 
self-conceited boast that I am a special favourite of 
the Almighty. 

To fulfil the conditions of humility, as our Lord 
defined it, it is not enough that we confess, nor even 



THE GREATNESS OF HUMILITY. 65 

that we feel, ourselves to be guilty in the sight of 
God and destitute of any righteousness of our own 
to merit His approbation. That is indeed properly 
involved in humility ; but it is only one of its 
conditions, and may be a very imperfect one. 

What then, are the essential characteristics of 
Christian humility, in the full sense of the term t 
It was illustrated by our Lor4, as we have seen, by 
referring to the characteristics of a little child. To 
be humble, then, is to be childlike. 

Nothing is so characteristic of the spirit of 
a little child as its freedom from all the feelings 
which constitute pride. How unpretending is a 
little child ! How unambitious and unscheming it 
is ! how unsuspicious and unenvious ! how little it 
cares for artificial distinctions ! and yet how true is 
its estimate of its own condition and qualities ! A 
little child is weak and helpless. It is instinctively 
conscious of this, and therefore trusts implicitly in 
the strong and able. It is ignorant. Conscious of 
this, it submits itself to the guidance of the wise. 
Its ultimate destiny is in other and higher hands 
than its own; therefore it engages in no independent 
and self-reliant schemes for its own advantage. So, 
in relation to its companions of equal age, it makes 
no pretension above others on the score of any 

5 



66 CHRTSTIANITY IN DAIL Y LIFE. 

artificial or conventional distinction. One little 
child neither esteems nor despises another on account 
of any difference merely of condition. The child 
of a master will play with the child of a slave ; 
the child of a king will associate, without any 
assumption of superiority, with the child of a 
peasant. But they are each equally conscious of 
real distinctions. If the one be really stronger or 
wiser than the other, this difference is very soon felt 
and recognised. Withal, how tender-hearted are 
little children! how^ sympathising! how instinctively 
they weep with them that weep and laugh with them 
that laugh ! How utterly incapable they are of 
desiring, much more of plotting for, their own 
exaltation, to the disadvantage and injury of others ! 

When, therefore, our Lord pointed to a little 
child, and told His disciples to be humble like it, 
we cannot doubt that such are the characteristics 
which He desired them to have. 

Such are, in truth, the essential characteristics 
of Christian humility. We are here in the world 
all alike creatures of God. We are all alike 
dependent and helpless creatures. We have 
nothing, and can have nothing, except what He 
permits us to have. We cannot even breathe a 
single breath of life without His permission and 



THE GREATNESS OF HUMILITY. 67 

power. Besides, we are only inferior creatures : 
there is no comparison between us and our Creator, 
and we are lower than His angels. They are 
wiser and stronger than we, and occupy a much 
higher sphere. Moreover we are sinful creatures ; 
our nature is depraved ; it has had admitted into 
it evil qualities, and we are subjected to their 
influence. This faith and corruption of our nature 
deserves in itself God's wrath and condemnation, 
and it involves us all in heinous actual guilt. An 
all-righteous God could not look upon us with 
approbation — He could not look upon us with 
anything but condemnation — if He had not, in His 
infinite mercy, provided for our regeneration and 
justification by the Incarnation and Sacrificial 
Death of His only-begotten Son. 

Such being our real state and condition, there is, 
most certainly, no reason for anything like pride 
on our part. To be proud and pretentious in such 
a case is to be absurdly foolish, and must expose us 
to the contempt, and, if they are capable of such 
a feeling, to the derision, of the spirits of heaven. 

To be humble : why, what is that, but just to 
have a true sense of what we are ? What is it, 
but to feel that we are, as we are, poor, weak, 
helpless, ignorant, and sinful creatures : without 



68 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

any claim upon God's favour save that which 
His infinite mercy has granted to us through Christ, 
His Son, our Lord ? What is it but to feel that 
we cannot, as we cannot, even think a good thought 
as of ourselves, and therefore to trust implicitly 
to the guidance of God's good Spirit ? Then, in 
relation to our fellow-men, what is it but to see 
and feel both their and our true condition and to 
be free from any pretensions that are inconsistent 
with it ? If none of us have anything that we 
have not received ; if we are all alike dependent 
on God for life, and breath, and all things ; if we 
are all alike placed by Him in the positions which 
we severally occupy, for no other purpose than that 
of probation, to give us an opportunity to serve 
Him and fit ourselves for His heavenly kingdom : 
if, therefore, our real differences of character and 
condition lie deeper than those which depend on 
conventional distinctions : — why, then it becomes 
us to see and feel all this. When we do see and 
feel it, then are we truly humble. 

Now we are prepared to understand the apparent 
paradox that to be truly humble is to be truly 
great. By the depravity of our nature there is in 
all of us a disposition to seek independently of 
God, to act as though we were wiser than He and 



THE GREATNESS OF HUMILITY. 69 

could find our own way to happiness. This is 
the working of pride : and to counteract it is to 
learn, and submit ourselves to the influence of, 
humility. Therefore, as a great preacher of our 
mother Church has well said, " It is scarcely too 
much to say that in becoming humble, we become 
all which is demanded of us by the Gospel ; since 
this mastery of pride m.ust include or promote 
the subjugation of every passion which opposes 
our entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Where, 
then," he asks, " the cause for surprise if humility 
be represented as the high road to greatness ? The 
truly humble man must be, so far as character 
and achievements are concerned, the truly great 
man. I call not that man great who has conquered 
a nation, if he have failed, after all, to conquer 
himself. True greatness must be moral greatness, 
greatness of soul, that nobility of spirit which proves 
that as a man he has measured his duration, and 
found himself indestructible. And I recognise 
this greatness, not necessarily when a man has a 
world bowing at his footstool, but when he is 
himself bowing at the footstool of God. The 
rebel against lawful authority cannot be truly 
great ; the slave of his own passions cannot be 
truly great ; the idolater of his own powers cannot 



70 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

be truly great : and the proud man is this rebel, 
this slave, this idolater ; for pride spurns at the 
divine dominion, gives vigour to depraved affections, 
and exaggerates all our powers." * What, then, 
can be truer than to say that pride destroys the 
chief elements of a great character, and therefore, 
that in order to have such a character one must 
first become humble as a little child ? 

There is yet another reason why the humblest 
man is the greatest. A humble spirit is pre- 
eminently the spirit of Christ. He came not to 
be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His 
life a ransom for many. Being in the form of God, 
so that He thought it not robbery to be equal with 
God, He made Himself of no reputation, but took 
upon Him the form of a servant and was made in 
the likeness of man. Having submitted to this 
humiliation, how unpretending and self-denying He 
was ! How He stooped to every kind of indignity, 
and endured every form of hardship, and undertook 
every species of toil, for the benefit of poor and 
suffering men ! To be humble is to be like Him ; 
and to be like Him is, without question, to be truly 
great. He became the Redeemer of all by first 
becoming the Servant of all. The path of humilia- 

*■ Melville, Sermons, vol, ii., p. 271. 



THE GREATNESS OF HUMILITY. 71 

tlon was His way to greatness ; and that not only 
as entitling Him to be raised up to the right hand 
of the Father, and restored to the glory which He 
had with the Father before the world began, but 
also in the sphere of His human life, and the estima- 
tion of the world itself. His example introduced 
an entirely new standard, for both measuring and 
achieving greatness. Foolish men are still bent on 
seeking aggrandisement by the old methods. They 
still set up their idols of silver and gold, and shout 
with the old idolaters, " Great is Diana of the 
Ephesians ! " they still indulge in the pompous 
utterance of great swelling words of vanity, and hold 
men's person in admiration ; but even the world 
itself has outgrown all this, and counts it mere child's 
play. Its truly great men, the men whose names 
are permanently ennobled and whose memories are 
cherished in its annals, are not such as Caesar or 
Croesus, but such as have been willing to suffer the 
loss of all things, not counting their lives dear unto 
themselves, if so be they might, in some sense, be 
savers of others after the pattern of the great 
Saviour Christ. 

This, then, is the true standard, and it is no longer 
a paradox, even in the world's hearing, to speak of 
the greatness of humility. We do not ask if any 



72 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 



desire such greatness, for to desire it is to lose it. 
The Christian rule is that we are simply to be 
like Christ, — like Him, seek not our own but 
others' advantage, — like Him, condescend to the 
condition and sympathise with the feelings of the 
poor and the suffering, — like Him, make it the 
purpose of our life to do them good : and then, 
though we seek it not, it will assuredly be our award 
to be accounted great in the only sense that is worthy 
of a man ; great in usefulness, and thereby great in 
the appreciative esteem of men and the approving 
smile of God. It is a truth which is applicable 
in all time and to the case of every individual that 
" Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abaseth ; and 
whosoever humbled himself shall be exalted." 



CHAPTER VI. 

CHRISTIAN FORGIVENESS, 



" So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from 
your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." — St. 
Matthew xviii. 35. 



nr^HE parable of the unmerciful servant, of which 
this verse is our Lord's own application, was 
called out by the question of Peter : " Lord, how 
oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive 
him ? " This question seems to have been prompted 
by the direction respecting the treatment of an 
offending brother, which we find in an earlier part of 
this chapter : " If thy brother shall trespass against 
thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him 
alone : if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy 
brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take 
with thee one or two more ; that in the mouth of 
two or three witnesses every word may be esta- 
blished : and if he shall neglect to hear them, tell 
it unto the Church : but if he neglect to hear the 
Church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man 
and a publican." 

There can be no doubt that other teachings of our 
Lord on this subject had told on the minds of the 
disciples and roused them to questioning as to the 



76 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

duty of forgiveness and its possible limitation in the 
Christian religion. It is true that this was one 
of the subjects which was marked with peculiar 
emphasis in our Lord's teachings, and one which, in 
respect of the prominence given to it and the light 
in which it was put by Him, made a very notable 
point wherein His ethical system stood out in ad- 
vance of all others. Very significantly in the Sermon 
on the Mount — the first great proclamation of 
the practical requirements of His religion — this was 
one of the leading illustrations, to show the advance 
in the temper and practice of life which He proposed 
to make above that of even the most accredited 
teachers of religion among the Jews : " Ye have 
heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and 
a tooth for a tooth ; but I say unto you that ye 
resist not evil. Ye have heard that it hath been 
said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine 
enemy : but I say unto you. Love your enemies ; do 
good to them which hate you ; bless them that de- 
spitefully use you and persecute you : that ye may 
be the children of your Father which is in heaven. 
For if ye love them which love you, what reward 
have }e ? for sinners also love those that love them. 
And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more 
than others ? Do not even the publicans so 1 But 



CHRISTIAN FORGIVENESS. 77 

love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend hoping 
for nothing again ; and your reward shall be great, 
and ye shall be the children of the Highest : for He 
is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." 

Had His teachings on this subject been confined 
to these perceptive utterances they would have been 
sufficiently characteristic ; but we all know that in 
the same sermon He put the stamp of fundamental 
and universal obligation upon the forgiving temper, 
by making it an indispensable condition of acceptable 
prayer : " After this manner, therefore, pray ye ... . 
forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. For 
if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly 
Father will also forgive you ; but if ye forgive not 
men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive 
your trespasses." 

While these teachings are very fam.iliar to our 
ears, it is worth while for us to understand that they 
were not familiar to the men who were listen- 
ing to our Lord on the Mount or to any men on 
earth in that day and generation. On the contrary, 
they were new teachings, and very startling. It 
may not be true, perhaps, to say that forgiveness 
of enemies was then for the first time recognised or 
inculcated as a duty ; for the records of the Old 
Testament are not wanting in striking examples of 



78 CHRISTIANITY TV DAILY LIFE. 

a forgiving spirit under malignant persecution ; and 
even heathens had learned that the rigorous edicts 
of justice should be tempered by the softening 
hand of mercy. Never before had forgiveness been 
put in such a light, never before inculcated so 
unqualifiedly or required so universally and funda- 
mentally, as it was in the religion of Christ ; never 
before had it been plainly said that men must love 
their enemies, and bless their hateful persecutors, 
and do good to all vi^rong-doers. Never before had 
the precept been given as a fundamental law, with 
the connection of its thenceforth inseparable con- 
dition : forgive, or ye shall not be forgiven. 

We are familiar, as the world then was not, with 
all this teaching, and are not startled, as the men 
of that generation were, in listening to such utter- 
ances. Nay, we are accustomed to hear them 
among the commonplaces of our religion, and assent 
to them as a matter of course. Why should we 
not .? They are in the New Testament. They are 
learned as lessons in our schools. They are read 
in our churches. The duty, or rather the whole 
class of duties, is unmistakably recognised and 
admitted in our every-day prayers. Of course, then, 
we assent to it all, and mean, as we profess, to live 
by it. 



CHRISTIAN FORGIVENESS. 79 

Ah ! that is just the point : do we mean really to 
live by it ? Are these teachings of Christ anything 
more to us in fact than commonplaces of His 
religion ? Are they, in very truth, taken as the 
law by which our spirit and temper, in all the 
intercourse of life, are regulated and determined ? 
With entire honesty of intention, it is quite possible 
that in this case, as in others, we may have allowed 
a general assent to the teachings of Christ to be 
put in the place of their specific application in daily 
living. Even this assent may be only a dreamy 
acceptance of familiar phraseology without thought 
of its meaning or practical import. 

Let us try now to clear away any such indefinite- 
ness by considering exactly what this doctrine of 
Christ concerning the forgiveness of enemies means 
for us and requires of us. 

In the first place, then, it does not mean that 
we are to regard all persons with equal confidence 
or receive all to equal familiarity. On this point, 
as on some others, the conception of Christian 
requirements which is commonly entertained needs 
correction. The Christian temper is not inconsistent 
with the clear or even keen discrimination. Its 
amiability is not that of mere flabby good nature, 
or of gushing sentimentality. Its charity, though 



8o CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

it finds no pleasure in iniquity, is sure ever to 
rejoice in the truth. It is unquestionably true that 
there are in the world countless divergencies both 
of condition and character, which may and should 
vary the degrees of assimilation with one and 
another. As a Christian man I have no right to 
be prejudiced against, or to harbour any degree of 
unkindness, or treat with any shade of injustice, 
one who differs from me in condition, colour, race, 
or any other respect ; but in the differences there 
may be incongruities which are unfavourable for the 
enjoyment on either side, and perhaps even at con- 
flict with the propriety, of very familiar intercourse. 
Then again, it is sadly true in the experience of us 
all that one and another, with whom we have been 
associated from time to time, has proved, in the 
hard struggle of life, false in friendship, and malig- 
nant in opposition. Does Christian charity require 
a forgiving spirit towards such persons .'' Unques- 
tionably it does, and that even to the extinguish- 
ment of the slightest grudge ; but forgiveness does 
not necessarily restore the former relations. They 
may be restored. The evidence of thorough 
reformation, as well as repentance, may be such as 
to deserve a restoration ; but until that be given 
the case calls for discrimination, which is both 



CHRISTIAN FORGIVENESS. 8i 

prudent and equitable, between that which is and 
that which is not worthy of trust. If I have found 
one to be, not an honest man, but a thief, I am not 
required by Christian charity to trust him with my 
goods ; and if one has betrayed my confidence and 
proved treacherous to the interests of friendship, 
it is equally unnecessary, and indeed impossible, for 
me to intrust him further with my secrets, or hold 
him within the terms of familiar and confiding 
intercourse. 

This, then, we may safely say, is a proper qualifi- 
cation of Christian forgiveness, that it does not 
involve indifference to trustworthiness or indis- 
crimination between the true and the false. 

In the second place we may admit that it does 
not require entire freedom from anger or even from 
persistent indignation. Primarily, as a mere emotion, 
anger is the instinctive resistance of physical sensi- 
tiveness against injury, or harm, or annoyance of 
any sort ; and as such it is manifested in young 
children before they are capable of distinguishing 
between right and wrong, and even in brute creatures 
which are supposed to be without moral sense. But 
in men and women, who are capable of distinguishing 
between right and wrong, and who are under the 
obligation to such discrimination in all their conduct, 

6 



82 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

anger has another and far higher function. Besides 
physical sensitiveness, there should be in them a 
clear and keen moral sense ; and, therefore, they 
must needs be morally sensitive, that is, their 
aversion must be excited — it ought to be always, 
and will be just in proportion to the fidelity of the 
moral sense — against every exhibition of injustice 
and wrong. Since aversion to wrong is with 
them not a mere emotional impulse, but a settled 
principle, there should be in them a persistent 
indignation until the injustice is removed and the 
wrong corrected. When the Lord Jesus, who was 
the very incarnation of loving compassion, saw His 
Father's house profaned by dealers in earthly pelf, 
it is expressly recorded that He was angry ; and it 
is plain that His indignation passed from the emo- 
tional impulse into settled aversion, when He made 
a whip and drove the traffickers out of the sacred 
courts. Not inconsistent, then, with the Christian 
temper, let us clearly understand, but rather a very 
legitimate quality in it, is a quickness of the moral 
sense, and its steady and uncompromising persistence 
in resisting every species of injustice and opposing 
every form of wrong. We must add that there is 
no one thing which is more needed in our modern 
Christianity, and for the lack of which it is sadly 



CHRISTIAN FORGIVENESS. %t, 

limp and powerless, than a clear recognition and 
exercise of this function of the Christian conscience. 
When it shall come to be understood, if we may 
hope it ever will, that the Christian temper means 
a determination of the character through and 
through for truth and right, the Christian temper 
will be no longer a synonym for amiable weakness, 
and the office of righteous indignation will cease to 
be a puzzle to men and women enlisted as soldiers 
and sworn to a lifelong fight for God and His 
Christ. 

Admitting the consistency with the Christian 
temper of this general aversion to wrong, the question 
is, how far this aversion is modified, or in Vv^hat way 
regulated, by the requirement of Christian forgive- 
ness, when the wrong is done directly to ourselves ? 
Certainly the essential principles of the Christian 
temper must remain unchanged. Wrong is wrong : 
and, as such, abominable in God's sight ; and the 
nearer that we approach to His likeness the more 
decidedly so it will appear in ours wherever and how- 
ever it be exhibited : therefore we may be allowably 
and righteously indignant when the encroachments 
of wrong are felt in our own persons or to the 
detriment of our own interests. We may refuse to 
accept any term of compromise with it : we may 



84 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

resist it and have recourse to the lawful tribunals 
for redress and for equitable reparation. 

Where, then, do we find the office, or look for 
the effectual operation, of the spirit of forgiveness ? 

Clearly, in three ver}" important particulars. 

1 . The forgiving spirit Jiarboiirs no such thougJit or 
feeling as tJiat of revenge. It never seeks to inflict 
wrong because one has suffered wrong. Its aversion 
may be decided, it may be even indignant ; but it 
is righteous only as it is a settled principle of 
resistance to wrong as such, and that in ourselves 
equally as in others. Therefore, there can be in it 
no taint of malice, no possible wish to get satisfac- 
tion for a grudge by inflicting harm upon one by 
whom we have been harmed. If reparation be 
sought, it must be clearly for the sake of truth and 
equity ; not in any manner or degree for revenge. 

2. Again, Christian forgiveness requires that we 
hold ourselves ever ready ^ and tJiat most Jieartily^for 
any possible opportunity to do good to one whose 
wrong we are, at the same time, withstanding. Its 
regulative effect upon the temper must be not 
only of a negative character, to exclude malice and 
revengeful spite ; but also as very positively charged 
with pitying tenderness and loving compassion. It 
looks upon the wrong-doer as himself the most 



CHRISTIAN FORGIVENESS. 85 

pitiable victim of wrong, and counts its own but a 
leper wound in the common suffering. Therefore, 
its very pain quickens the nerves of sympathy ; and 
the more grievous the sense of wrong, the more 
hearty the readiness to bring into its place the 
ameliorating influence of goodness. 

3. One other point yet remains. Christian for- 
giveness is self-sacrificing. It is not only unrevenge- 
ful, not only pitiful and of tender mercy, but it is a 
spirit which " seeketh not its own," which " counts 
not its life dear unto it," and which is " ready to 
suffer the loss of all things " if so be it may remove 
the guilt and lessen the suffering of sin. In a word, 
it is the Spirit of Christ, who gave Himself for us 
when we were sinners against Him. From His 
example it draws its inspiration, and in gratitude 
for His mercy it finds its most fervent incentive. 
Only it never fails to recognise this infinite disparity 
between His forgiveness of us and any mercy that 
we are capable of exercising toward our fellows : 
He was spotless and knew no sin, while of us it is 
sadly true that there is " none good, no, not one," 
and there is no boon of pardon that we can grant, 
which is not far exceeded by that which we need. 

How, then, can we as Christians refuse forgiveness 
to any offending brother t Or, how can the for- 



S6 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

giveness be in any measure stinted or half-hearted ? 
how can it be other than free, full, and complete ? 
Only so may we have any well-grounded hope for 
participation in the Saviour's promise : " If ye for- 
give men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will 
likewise forgive you." As, on the other hand, our 
own conscience cannot but acquiesce in the justice 
of the opposite sentence : " So likewise, shall my 
heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your 
hearts forgive not every one his brother their tres- 
passes." 



CHAPTER VII. 
CHRISTIAN ANGER. 



" Be ye angry, and sin not." — Ephesiaxs iv. 26. 



/^"^AN we be angry, and sin not ? Is not anger 
^~^ itself essentially and necessarily sinful ? Is it 
not simply the ebullition of a wicked temper ? How 
then can its indulgence, or even its exhibition, on 
any occasion be without sin ? 

Such questions indicate the first impression of 
many, perhaps of most, persons, on hearing or read- 
ing this text with any thoughtful apprehension of its 
purpose. But on reflection it must be evident that, 
in the Apostle's conception, there must have been 
some place for anger which is not only not sinful but 
perfectly right and even obligatory. We need not, 
indeed, understand the words, ** be ye angry," as a 
precept to the indulgence or exhibition of anger; for 
the sense, no doubt is, though ye be angry, sin not. 
It clearly means that we may be angry, and yet 
be in that respect entirely free from fault or occasion 
of blame. 

It is worth while for us to consider this subject 
with some degree of thoughtful attention. It may 



go CHRIS TIA Nl TV IX DAILY L IFE. 

clear up in our minds certain very important, but 
commonly neglected and much misunderstood, points 
in Christian ethics ; and so, with God's grace, it may 
have the effect to free our consciences from mistaken 
scruples, and enable us to govern our thoughts and 
feelings rightly and form our temper in a true 
Christian direction. 

In the first place, then, it is important to under- 
stand clearly that anger, in itself, is simply a natural 
impulse in resisting or opposing hurt or annoyance 
of any kind. It is simply instinctive ; just as much 
so as the impulse to shut the eyes suddenly on the 
sudden approach of any object that may be hurtful. 
As such it has no moral quality ; as it is found in 
little children who are as yet unconscious of wrong, 
and even in the lower animals who are devoid of 
what we know as the moral sense.* 

It may be possible to conceive of life so perfect in 
all its conditions and circumstances, as to be free 
from any possible occasion for an impulse or affec- 
tion of this sort. We think of the heavenly state as 
so peaceful, because so ruled by the principles of 
perfect righteousness, that anger can have no reason 
for its existence, or, certainly, no place for its exhibi- 

* See Bishop Butler's Sermons upon Human Nature. (Upon 
Resentment.) Sermon viii. 



CHRISTIAN ANGER. 91 

tion there. But in such a world as this, and with 
the conditions of life which there are here, we can see 
that anger, in the sense that we have now defined it, 
has a very clear protective purpose. 

It certainly serves this purpose as it is exhibited 
in all the lower orders of the animal creation. Very 
clearly it is in them a stimulating impulse to the 
resistance of violence which, if not resisted, would 
often be destructive. As clearly it serves the 
purpose not only of defence against such attacks, 
but, perhaps even more frequently, of preventing 
them. Dr. Chalmers, in illustrating this point, says : 
" The first demonstration of a violence to be offered 
on the one hand, when met by the preparation and 
the countenance of an incipient resentment on the 
other, not only repels the aggression after it has 
begun, but still more frequently, we believe, through 
the reaction and the restraint of fear on the other- 
wise attacking party, prevents the aggression from 
being made. The stout and formidable antagonists 
eye each other with a sort of mutual respect ; and, 
as if by a common though tacit consent, wisely 
abstain on either side from molestation, and pass 
onward without a struggle. It is thus that many a 
fierce contest is forborne, which, but for the opera- 
tion of anger on the one side and fear upon the 



92 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

other, would most certainly have been entered upon. 
And so by a system or machinery of reciprocal 
checks and counteractives, and where the mental 
affections too perform the part of essential forces, 
there is not that incessant warfare of extermination 
which might have depopulated the world." 

There can be no question that anger as a natural 
impulse serves this useful purpose not only among 
the lower animals, but also in human society. It is 
here not less truly an instrument of defence against 
aggressions of violence or injustice, and it is here 
even more effectual, not only in resisting such 
aggressions when actually made, but also in checking 
and preventing them. " No one can tell," as Dr. 
Chalmers forcibly adds on this point, " how much 
we are indebted for the blandness and the amenity 
of human companionships, to the consciousness of 
so many sleeping fires, in readiness to blaze forth at 
the touch or on the moment of any provocation 
being offered. There can be no question that in 
all society this consciousness, though latent, never 
ceases to act as a powerful restraint on everything 
that is offensive. The domineering insolence of 
those who, with the instrument of anger too, would 
hold society in bondage, is most effectually arrested 
when met by anger which throws back the fear upon 



CHRISTIAN ANGER. 93 

themselves, and so quiets and composes all their 
violence. There is a kind of moral power in the 
anger itself, that is separate from the animal or 
physical strength which it puts into operation ; and 
which invests it with command, or at least provides 
with defensive armour those who would otherwise be 
the most helpless of our species — so that decrepit 
age or feeble womanhood has, by the mere rebuke 
of an angry countenance, made the stoutest heart 
to tremble before them. It is a moral force, by 
which the inequalities of muscular force are repaired ; 
and while itself a firebrand and destroyer, yet, by 
the very terror of its ravages, which it diffuses 
among all, were it to stalk at large over the world, 
does it contribute to the maintenance of harmony 
and peace, and to the exercise of kindly considera- 
tion and courteous attention in the intercourse of 
human life." * 

While it is possible for us to see, and right to 
recognise, these restraining and protective uses, 
which anger as a natural impulse, plainly serves in 
the economy of life, it is as unquestionably true that 
it is useful or harmless only when it is itself under 
control ; true, that like the fire and the flood, its 

* Bridgewater Treatise : On the Moral and Intellectual Constitution 
of Man, chapter v. 



94 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 



power, if unrestrained and undirected, is only to 
ravage and destroy. It is for us a truth of still 
more practical importance, that in the Christian 
character every natural impulse is to be taken up, 
and guided, and tempered, by the higher principles 
of reason and virtue. It is in the application 
and practical influence of these principles that we 
are to find the exemplification of the Apostle's 
precept, " Be ye angry, and sin not." 

In the first place, as our character is, all the 
while from earliest childhood, forming for better 
or worse, we are to see to it that we keep ourselves, 
as life goes on, growing in spiritual strength to 
check and hold under due control this, with all the 
other impulses of our lower nature. We may be 
amused in seeing in little children the sudden 
outbursts of an angry temper on the slightest 
provocation ; we may be even interested in noting 
it as the mark of a high spirit, which, if rightly 
governed, will be a strong force in the character ; 
but to see such sudden and unreasonable outbursts 
in persons of mature age is very pitiable, and we 
rightly deem them inexcusable, for we consider, or 
certainly ought to consider, such moral weakness the 
proof of a lamentable failure in the growth of life. 
It is, of course, admitted that there are great 



CHRISTIAN ANGER. 95 

differences in natural temperament, and so, that the 
self-government which all need is much more 
difficult for some than for others ; but to say that 
one has naturally a quick temper is no sufficient 
excuse for him, or for her, to be continually or 
habitually at the mercy of that temper. On the 
contrary, so much the stronger is the reason for its 
resistance, so much more imperatively pressing the 
obligation to cultivate in the character an habitual 
submission to the influences of divine grace, and 
to hold oneself under the ruling guidance of the 
principles of reason and of Christian virtue, by which 
such a temper would be controlled and regulated. 
This, then, is the first point in fulfilling the Apostle's 
precept : to learn, and to keep learning more and 
more as life goes on, to hold our angry impulses 
habitually and decidedly in subjection to reason 
and principle, so that we may become less and less 
irritable, less and less easily provoked, and especially 
that we be less and less liable to be angry without 
cause, less and less likely to fly into sudden passion 
on the mere unreasoning impulse. So, we shall be 
growing less and less within the power of an 
inflammable spirit, less and less at the mercy of its 
sudden ebullitions, and more and more able to 
discriminate rightly, and to be governed by the 



96 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

discrimination, so that if it must sometimes needs 
be that we be angry, it may be sure to be with 
sufficient cause, and, in that respect, without sin. 

Supposing this much achieved in our temper, — 
supposing that we are not Hable, or at least are 
becoming not Hable, to feel the excitement of cause- 
less anger, — and supposing, therefore, that if at any 
time we have an angry impulse, it is with good 
cause, — then it is a still more important point for us 
to know what to do with that impulse, how to hold 
it under due restraint and direction. The proverb 
tells us that " the fool's wrath is presently known " ; 
by which is signified that the fool — that, is the 
person who is devoid of reason and principle — is 
entirely in the power of his excited temper, so that 
it rages and ravages at its own malignant will. 
In that case it matters little whether there were, or 
were not, originally any sufficient occasion for the 
excitement : reasonable or unreasonable in its origin, 
it is equally unregulated and pernicious in its effects. 
" The prudent man," on the contrary, " concealeth 
shame " : and prudence in the proverb implies the 
possession and governing influence of all the 
principles of reason and of godliness, which make 
man the master of his passions to hold them in due 
subordination, and to direct their action in ways 



CHRISTIAN ANGER. 97 

wherein there is no occasion to be ashamed. In the 
light of the Christian revelation, the government of 
an angry temper is so elementary a virtue^ — itf 
exercise is so natural and necessary in the Christian 
spirit — that it hardly seems to require the regulation 
of specific rules. The difficulty here seems to be, 
not so much to see how anger is to be restrained, 
but rather, how we can be angry at all : how, even 
with sufficient cause, the emotions of wrath can find 
place in the loving spirit which is inspired and 
formed by the religion of Christ. Certainly, there 
can be no such thing as resentment, much less of 
revenge. If there be righteous indignation here, 
it must be tempered both by justice and mercy : 
and by mercy even more than justice, in the con- 
sciousness that to mercy more than justice we' owe 
the condoning of our own wrongs. 

It is certainly true that there is such a thing as 
righteous indignation in the Christian temper. The 
loving Saviour Himself, more than once in His 
human life, felt and manifested a righteous indigna- 
tion. He did not look on indiffisrently or placidly 
at the profanation of His Father's house by covetous 
traffickers ; but was angry at the sight, and in His 
anger made a whip and drove out the defilers. 
More than once His loving eye flashed, and His 

7 



98 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

pure cheek burned with indignant aversion at the 
hypocrisy and selfishness of the Scribes and Pharisees. 
If we have His spirit, there must be in us something, 
at least in our measure, of His ardent devotion to 
the service, and of his intense thirst for the glory 
of God ; and of necessary consequence, it will follow, 
that there will be in us " a shrinking from the pollu- 
tion of sin and sinners ; an impatience, nay, indigna- 
tion, at witnessing God's honour insulted ; a quickness 
of feeling when His name is mentioned, and a 
jealousy how it is mentioned ; a readiness to meet 
obloquy, or reproach, or persecution, or forgetfulness 
of friend or relative, nay, a hatred (so to say), of all 
that is naturally dear to us, when He says. Follow 
Me." * 

We need a truer appreciation and clearer recogni- 
tion of this element in the Christian character — of 
its true function and purpose — than we commonly 
have in this generation. For want of it, the Gospel 
of Christ is turned into a mere gospel of gush and 
sentimentalism, and the Christian character is emas- 
culated of true manliness and sapped of all effective 
virtue. " It needs to be said even in the Christian 
pulpit that there is a place, not only for love, but 
also for anger in human society ; anger against 

* Newman. Par. Ser. vol., i., p. 530. 



CHRISTIAN ANGER. 99 

injustice, against unrighteousness, against sin and 
wrong, wherever and by whomsoever manifested. 
Let it be tempered to the full with Christian mercy ; 
still without its really effective inspiration there will 
be no general administration of justice, no cultivation 
or maintenance of traits which are high and noble in 
the individual character." 

The application in just this point should be 
made by each one of us emphatically to himself. 
In our consciousness of individual unworthiness we 
may well doubt if we have a right to be indignant 
against, much less to condemn, any wrong that we 
may see in others ; but there is no ground for such 
scruple in relation to ourselves. Here righteous 
indignation may have full sway, and do its utmost 
work. We cannot look with too intense a loathing 
upon the selfishness, the impurity, or the impiety, 
that is found in our own hearts. In this relation 
we may be angry with no fear that our anger may 
involve sin. Happy indeed will it prove with us if 
our anger give us no rest, and suffer us to have no 
thought of peace, until we are enlisted and engaged 
for life in a war of utter extermination against this 
evil ! Happy indeed if in our own experience we 
can realise what the Apostle meant when, in his 
pastoral counsel, he addressed in such terms as 



lOO CHRISTIANITY IN BAIL Y IIFE. 

these the Christians of the first generation : " For 
behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after 
a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, 
yea, what clearing of yourselves ; yea, what indigna- 
tion ; yea, what fear ; yea, what vehement desire ; 
yea, what zeal ; yea, what revenge. In all things 
ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this 
matter." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CHRISTIAN PURITY. 



"Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God." — St. 
Matthew v, 8. 



'nr^HE pure in heart : are any pure ? Is it 

possible for any of us, in this world of sinful . 
temptations, and with carnal nature whose instinctive 
impulses are readily responsive to these temptations, 
to meet this requirement, — to be pure in word and 
deed, and, more than that, in the very desires and 
dispositions of our innermost hearts ? The angels 
can be pure ; for they have their life and being 
in a world whose very atmosphere is that of 
purity, and are purely spiritual in their own nature. 
Little children, even in this world, may be pure ; 
for the carnal propensities of our nature are in them 
undeveloped, and they have no knowledge of the 
world's defilements : but, men and women, in a 
world like this ! Can they be pure ? 

Not, certainly, if the purity required be that of 
either angels or little children. Not, if it be seclusion 
from outward associations of evil or inward impulses 
to evil. Not, if it be a separation from influences 
of defilement either by entire purity of nature or by 
the innocence of mere unconsciousness or ignorance. 



104 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

This is not the purity which has the Saviour's bene- 
diction ; at least, not for us. Purity undoubtedly 
means clearness from all manner of defilement ; and 
purity of heart means this clearness in the feelings 
and desires, the likings and affections. It is not 
incompatible with a knowledge of evil ; for know- 
ledge is not in the heart, but in the mind. It is not 
inconsistent with the existence and legitimate exercise 
of the affections and impulses of our physical con- 
stitution ; for if they be elementary in our nature, 
they must have been implanted by our Creator, and 
there can be no defilement of guilt in their proper 
exercise and gratification. If it be natural to hunger 
for food, it cannot be wrong to be hungry in the 
want of food, and there can be no wrong in supply- 
ing this want in lawful method and measure. If 
there be any other impulse which is natural, element- 
ary in our physical constitution, and not owing to its 
fallen condition, that impulse has, unquestionably, 
its legitimate direction, and in that direction may, 
innocently and purely, have its exercise and find 
satisfaction in its appropriate object. Neither, again, 
is this purity inconsistent with our exposure to the 
influence of impure surroundings. The Son of God 
was, in this fallen world for thirty years, surrounded 
all the while by its influences and agencies of evil, 



CHRISTIAN PURITY. 105 

just as we are. He was brought into the closest 
possible external association with the author of all 
evil ; more than that, He was subjected to his 
influences, heard his defiling suggestions with His 
ears, and even received them into the inner sphere of 
His mental faculties : yet He was, most certainly, 
pure, spotless, and undefiled. It is not, as He 
Himself said, that which goeth into a man which 
defileth him, but that which cometh out. " For, 
out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, niurders, 
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blas- 
phemies : these are the things which defile a 
man." 

We must recognise the fact that we have within 
us, in our innermost nature, propensities which are 
not pure, impulses which move not under the direc- 
tion of purity. We cannot have any true knowledge 
of ourselves without being conscious of a knowledge 
of sin, not only in the way of that pure cognition 
which even the angels may be supposed to have, and 
which God in His omniscience must have, but also the 
base, impure knowledge which has its root in cor- 
rupt affections, and its growth in a lustful experience. 
Because of these corrupt propensities in our nature, 
our hearts are open to receive the corrupt influences 
that are without, and suggestions of evil fall, not as 



io6 CHRISTIANITY IN BAIL Y LIFE. 

in the Saviour's case, only on the organs of sense, 
but are readily welcomed and entertained within. 
They are admitted into the life-blood to quicken its 
vital flowing and to stimulate the very pulsations of 
our hearts. Hence we must be conscious both of 
corrupt desires — desires which in themselves are 
especially foul and vile — and also of impulses and 
affections w^hich may not be wrong in themselves 
but which become so by excess and faulty direction. 

Therefore we must recognise the fact that we are 
fallen beings, and must understand clearly that the 
attainment of purity is not an attainment of nature. 
It is not to be sought after, for a moment, without 
the divine strength and sweetness which come from 
the indwelling and inworking of God the Holy 
Ghost in our hearts : which indwelling and inworking 
it is the purpose of every provision of the Gospel and 
every ministration of the Church to secure for us. 

There are, then, laid out before us two possibilities 
of life, differing in every respect from each other, and 
diverging more and more to utterly different ends, 
between w^hich every living person must make his 
choice, and in one or the other of which, according 
to that choice, he must work out his own personal 
destiny. 

One is the life of our corrupt fallen nature, of 



CHRISTIAN PURITY. 107 

which it were a shame even to speak except in 
general terms. That it is natural, that there are in 
our innermost nature propensities which incline readily 
and strongly towards it, that we can secure freedom 
from its polluting thraldom only by a persistent 
resistance of these inclinations, — this constitutes the 
darkest and most inexplicable mystery among all 
the mysteries of our life in this world : but the fact 
is sadly certain ; and the only clue to its explanation 
is the revealed account of the fall. It is the way of 
living which is broad and easy, all over this world, 
for all the children of Adam that are born into it. 
They have — nay, let us bring the fact directly home 
to ourselves and say we have — only to follow the 
lead of our natural inclinations, to let them have 
their way, to be in our thoughts and feelings, our 
tastes and affections, just as they suggest ; — and 
nothing is more certain than that we shall find our- 
selves under the spell of impurity, breathing the air 
of pollution, and given over with every faculty of our 
nature to its debasing and destroying power. The 
process of the beguilement — from its subtle incep- 
tion to the fatal end — is given in few words by an 
inspired Apostle : " Let no man say when he is 
tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be 
tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. 



io8 CHRISTIANITY IN DAI I V 11 FE. 

But every man is tempted when he is drawn away 
of his own lust, and enticed." That is the first 
stage : lust within us, lust, which is our own by 
carnal nature, looking out with wanton eyes, seeking 
for or readily accepting surrounding evil. " Then 
when lust hath so conceived, it bringeth forth sin : 
and sin when it is finished " — when it has run its 
course and reached its end — " bringeth forth death." 

Oh, how wretched the course, and how direful 
the destiny, which are here summed up ! What a 
shameful perversion of our vital capabilities ! what 
a miserable waste and wretched ruin of life ! 

Thank God, it is for any one of us but an alter- 
native. For every one there is a possibility, nay, 
more, there is by the terms of the covenant of divine 
grace an assured certainty, of a life and destiny in 
which the spirit of impurity has no power. "Blessed 
are the pure in heart." Surely, He who knoweth 
what is in the heart of man and needeth not that 
any should tell Him, pronounced in this sentence no 
impracticable benediction. It is possible, it must be, 
for every one of us to attain the blessing. 

Happy indeed our lot, if, with our very birth into 
this fallen world, and before our consciousness of its 
defiling influences or of the infection of our nature, 
we were born again into the divine Kingdom, and 



CHRISTIAN PURITY. 109 

nurtured and trained, in dawning infancy and 
through all the years of youth when character is 
forming, under the constant guidance of the spirit of 
purity ! In all the Christian generations there have 
been — as, thank God, we doubt not that even in this 
generation there are — many such favoured ones ; of 
whom it may be almost said without presumption, 
that the prince of wickedness findeth nothing in 
them. Certainly it is true, that whatever may be 
the danger of a possible loss of salvation in their 
case, it is not on the side of impurity or from its 
special temptations. 

This may be conceded to be the privilege of 
comparatively few. The many, especially of boys 
and men, whose life is constantly in the unclean 
traffic of the world, are constrained to breathe an 
impure atmosphere and to know much of evil — too 
much, by far, for their integrity, their strength, or 
their purity of intention and purpose. These are 
saved so as by fire. They must learn to be pure as 
they learn to be strong, by the strain and tension of 
a constant struggle. 

But they can learn it, they can overcome, they 
can prevail, not, certainly, by the inherent strength 
of their own unaided will, or by power in their own 
nature, but by that pardoning and purifying and 



no CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

strengthening grace of God, which has been pur- 
chased for us by the precious blood of His Incarnate 
Son, and which is sure to be granted in its all- 
sufficient and saving efficacy to every one who will 
humbly receive and honestly use it. 

Of these two entirely different sorts and opposite 
ways of life, it is not difficult to see how, even 
here and now in this world, it is of the latter 
only that the promise holds good : " they shall 
see God." 

The impure heart has no divine perceptiveness. 
In habitual impurity of thought and feeling, there 
is, in the first place, no desire to see God. The 
wishes and longings of such are all earthly, sensual, 
devilish ; no aspiration that is heavenward, no dis- 
position to look upward. If it could be possible for 
a heavenward desire to be momentarily awakened in 
such a heart, the foul and murky atmosphere in 
which it lives, moves, and has it being, would shut 
down upon it and utterly hide from it the light of 
the sun and all the glory of the skies. There is no 
surer road to the " eclipse of faith " than through 
the indulgence of impure thoughts and desires. No 
fact in the history of mankind is more unquestion- 
ably demonstrated, demonstrated in all experience 
as a moral law of cause and effect, than is this 



CHRISTIAN PURITY. in 

inseparable connection of spiritual blindness with 
habitual impurity. Every reader of history knows 
that there have been, among different people, and 
under different forms of civilisation, periods which 
are marked as epochs of infidelity ; and no such 
period has ever failed to exhibit, as its equally 
unmistakable characteristic, the dark stains of 
prevalent licentiousness and general impurity. If it 
be indeed true, as many fear, that such a wave of 
moral corruption is threatening to engulf the present 
and immediately coming generation even here, if 
crimes of violence and lust are outbreaking, as never 
before, in frequency and malignity, if cleanness of 
conduct and expression, if integrity which is above 
suspicion, and honour without the possibility of taint, 
and purity absolutely unassailable, are becoming no 
longer looked for, and hardly believed in ; — it is no 
wonder if it be also a time when there is no longer 
any open vision of God, when all divine mysteries 
are treated as sheer riddles, and perplexities of the 
spiritual world openly repudiated and scouted at as 
but the foolishness of old superstition. 

Even in an evil and adulterous generation there 
are still, thank God, ever found some who by His 
grace have been enabled to keep themselves pure, 
at least from the sins which grossly defile both 



112 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE, 

the body and soul, and others still who, though 
they have known taint, have sought steadily and 
successfully for purification through the atoning 
and inworking grace of the Divine Redeemer ; and, 
in the experience of all such it is, most assuredly, 
ever found to be true that, as they advance in 
purity, they advance also in spiritual knowledge. 
The one is ever the condition of the other : clean- 
ness of heart ever the qualification for clearness of 
sight. Cleanness of heart, — " sweet and innocent 
in childhood ; strong, self-controlling and victorious 
in youth ; established, settled, entirely won and held 
unassailably sure in manhood " — this it is which is 
not only the basis and foundation of all true 
character, but, which is also " the fairest and most 
gracious of all the fruits of the Spirit in a regenerate 
soul,"* and most effectively influential in restoring 
man to companionship with angelic natures and 
fitting him for the blissful presence and sight of 
God. 

Can we doubt that this must still be true when 
we shall have passed away from earth into the 
future state } If there may be these possibilities of 
a more open access than here to the divine presence, 
if we may hope to see and know Him as we can- 

* Bishop Moberly, Sermons on the Beatitudes, sermon \'i. 



CHRISTIAN PURITY. 113 

not now, must not purity be still the indispensable 
qualification ? Can a sinner — all befouled and 
blinded — see God ? But, on the other hand, can the 
eye of purity fail to see Him and to find its satisfy- 
ing delight in Him ? It has seen Him amid all 
these earthly damps and vapours : seen Him in 
Sacraments and all holy Ordinances ; in all natural 
manifestations, and all Providential orderings ; and 
shall it not much more see Him where He 
dwelleth in perfect light, and when all the lets and 
hindrances of this earthly state shall have been 
entirely removed ? 

Oh, if it may be ours at last to know in very 
deed this blessedness, — if after all the temptations 
and trials, the doubts and darkness, of this mortal 
pilgrimage, we may come before Him in whose 
presence is the fulness of life and joy, — if we may 
awake from the dead in the pure and holy likeness 
of the Redeemer, — if we may lift up our eyes, 
redeemed, sanctified, saved, to see, and see for ever, 
the eternal mercy of God in Christ to all and upon 
all those who are made like Him, — it is worth v/hile 
to have been under discipline, worth while to have 
borne the yoke and endured the struggle, worth 
while to have resisted the dev and mortified the 
flesh, and overcome the world ! 

8 



114 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

Shall we not, one and all, with more and more 
earnestness, aspire after, and pray for, and discipline 
all our powers of body and soul in that purity of 
heart, that cleanness of spirit, to which, and to 
which alone, this blessedness is promised and 
assured ? 



CHAPTER IX. 
CHRISTIAN CONSECRATION OF THE BODY. 



'* I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye 
present your bodies a li%-ing sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God : which 
is your reasonable service." — Romans xii. i. 



T ET us observe distinctly that the call upon us 
— ' here is not simply to present ourselves in a 
general way, but to present our bodies^ as clearly 
implying that our bodies as well as our souls 
have been regenerated in Christ, and, by virtue of 
His redemption, are, with all their members, made 
meet for the service of God. 

This is a most important truth for us, and one 
to which our attention needs to be specially called, 
because it has been sadly lost sight of in modern 
Christianity. We are all accustomed to hear, and 
probably also to think of, religion as a matter simply 
of feeling. To be religious is very commonly sup- 
posed to mean no more than to be seriously minded, 
thoughtful of our duties towards God, and of a 
prayerful spirit and temper ; and this does certainly 
include a very essential requisite of religion : but 
the defect in it is its failure to recognise the com- 
pleteness of our redemption, and our consequent 
obligation to a surrender of our entire selves, of our 



Il8 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

bodies not less truly than of our souls, unto the 
service of Him who hath redeemed us. 

To quicken within us a clear recognition of this 
truth, let us consider how our bodies are represented 
in the New Testament revelation as affected by the 
redeeming grace of the divine Saviour. 

We must think, first, of our bodies as they are by 
nature, inherited from Adam and existing in this 
world. Nothing is more certain than the fact that, 
as such, they are corrupt and perishable. That they 
are such, and that constantly and inevitably, is one 
of the most undeniable, and at times the most 
humiliating, experiences of our life in this world. It 
might be accepted as a simple and natural con- 
sequence of our connection here with a system which 
is perishable throughout, were there not in every one 
of us an idea of life which is untrammelled by such 
imperfections, and an ever-pressing consciousness 
of our capabilities if we could but have the strength 
and endurance of that life. This consciousness 
breeds universal discontent, and makes life with 
most persons but little more than a perpetual 
struggle for that to which the natural strength is 
felt to be unequal, and the attainment of that of 
which the natural endurance continually comes 
short. 



CHRISTIAN CONSECRATION OF THE BODY. 119 

The Old Testament revelation discloses to us 
the origin and cause of this physical disability. It 
points us to an occurrence in the very beginning 
of human history, by which the whole system was 
vitiated. It tells us of the introduction of sin, as 
the poison through which corruption seated itself 
in the vitals of humanity, and in man's degeneracy 
thereby brought all nature into bondage. This 
revelation gives us the only possible explanation 
of the disorder which we feel and know to be in our 
system. Not only does it indicate the taint of the 
flesh, by which disease, and pain, and weakness, and 
at last, death, have become inevitable ; but, still 
more plainly, does it disclose to us the origin and 
the working of that deeper taint of which we are 
conscious, and against which we all need to struggle 
perpetually : viz., the taint of moral corruption. 
This too is undeniably within us : sin reigning in 
our mortal bodies turns their members into instru- 
ments of unrighteousness ; perverts the eyes and 
ears, so that they become as doors thrown open 
to let in whatever defileth and is impure ; makes 
the tongue an unruly evil, a world of iniquity, 
full of deadly poison ; turns the throat into an 
open sepulchre ; and makes the feet swift to shed 
blood. 



I20 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

Such, then, are our mortal bodies in their natural 
state : they are corrupt, weak, sickly, perishable ; and 
thus subject to death temporal ; and they are sinful, 
vile, the seat of depraved appetite, unholy affections, 
and evil passions ; and they are subject to death 
eternal. 

It is evident to our reason that bodies in such 
a state are not meet to be offered as a sacrifice 
unto a pure and holy God, and that such as they — 
the maimed, the withered, the halt, and the blind — 
are not worthy to be acceptable unto Him. If then 
the Christian revelation comes to us with a special 
call, to " present " our " bodies a living sacrifice " ; 
if it declare this sacrifice to be " holy, and acceptable 
unto God," and, on our part, a " reasonable service " ; 
it would seem necessary that it should also dis- 
close to us some special efficacy in the provisions 
of the Gospel to render our bodies meet for such 
service. 

Have we not just this assuring disclosure in the 
revelation of the Incarnation ? " The Word was 
made flesh." God became Incarnate. Divinity 
became clothed upon with humanity, that the human 
might be partaker of the divine. We then, who by 
nature were sons of Adam, inheriting Adam's fallen 
nature, and subject to Adam's death, by grace have 



CHRISTIAISr CONSECRATION OF THE BODY. 121 

become sons of Him who is the Second Adam, 
receiving His immortal nature and partaking of His 
eternal life. For as many of us as have been 
baptised in Him were made thereby members of 
His body ; as the Apostle declares : " By one Spirit 
we are all baptised into one body," and that the 
body of Christ. He is graciously pleased to identify 
us with Himself and to make us partakers of the life 
which He hath in Himself. Hence we are declared 
to be the body of Christ, collectively ; and members 
" of His flesh and of His bones." Hence also, He 
is declared to be " the Head, from which all the 
body, by joints and bands having nourishment 
ministered and knit together, increaseth with the 
increase of God." If we are thus closely united 
with the Incarnate God, there must needs be to us 
very great and wonderful benefits from the union. 
Our mortal bodies must surely be quickened by His 
body, for He hath life in Himself and quickeneth 
all things. Such, is the case, the New Testament 
plainly assures us. In the first place, it teaches that 
our bodies, not simply our souls, or as some would 
say in modern Christendom, our hearts — but our 
bodies are members of Christ. " Know ye not," says 
St. Paul to the Corinthian Christians, as if it were 
one of the very first truths of the Gospel, " Know 



122 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE, 

ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ 
and temples of the Holy Ghost ? " In the second 
place, our bodies are identified with all that Christ 
did, and all that He is, and even our infirmities — 
our bodily weaknesses and defects — are taken up 
into a participation in His redeeming grace, so that, 
as the Apostle assures us, " we fill up in our flesh 
that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ, for 
His body's sake, which is the Church." Therefore 
we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that 
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the 
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in 
newness of life : knowing this, that our old man is 
crucified with Him that the body of sin might be 
destroyed. If we be dead with Christ, we believe 
that we shall also live with Him: for He who 
raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken our 
mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in us. 
" By His Spirit that dwelleth in us." Not in our 
hearts simply, but in us ; in our bodies as well as 
our souls. " Know ye not that your bodies . . . are 
the temple of the Holy Ghost ? " 

Now we can see the special force and propriety 
of the exhortation as addressed to those who have 
received the Christian revelation. " I beseech you, 
therefore, by the mercies of God, that ye present 



CHRISTIAN CONSECRATION OF THE BODY, 123 

your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto 
God, which is your reasonable service." 

Let us consider with all due seriousness what this 
means for us practically. 

We know what is meant by the presenting of 
anything for sacrifice. We know that under the old 
dispensation, the people of God were required to 
bring the bodies of sheep and oxen and present 
them before the altar, that the priest might offer 
them in sacrifice thereon. We know that bodies so 
presented were wholly consecrated unto the Lord : 
that their former owners ceased to have any claim 
upon them, nor could they take them from the altar 
and use them for unhallowed purposes without sacri- 
lege of the deepest dye. 

Well, even so the New Testament revelation 
declares to us : Ye are not your own ; ye are 
bought with a price ; ye are consecrated unto God ; 
your bodies are members of Christ who was sacri- 
ficed for you. 

On this ground it is that the call is made : 
Present, therefore, your bodies a living sacrifice, 
holy, acceptable unto God ; it is your reasonable 
service, and if you do it not, you are guilty of 
sacrilege — ay, guilty of defiling the temple of God ; 
and the terrible sentence then follows : " Whosoever 



124 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

defileth the temple of God, him will God destroy." 
The truth which we have to remember is, that our 
bodies have been consecrated, set apart unto the service 
of Him who cannot look on sin with the least 
degree of allowance ; and in that consecration we 
were made in very deed temples of His pure Spirit. 

The practical consequence is, that we keep them 
as so consecrated, that we defile them not, unhallow 
them not ; but that we sanctify the Lord God in 
our hearts, and glorify Him in our bodies and in 
our spirits which are God's ; that Vv^e let not sin 
reign in our mortal bodies, that we should obey it 
in the lusts thereof, neither yield our members as 
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield 
ourselves unto God as those that are alive from the 
dead, and our members as instruments of righteous- 
ness unto God. 

This consecration must mean more than that we 
are to keep ourselves from indulgence in gross sins 
of the flesh, such as " adultery, fornication, unclean- 
ness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, 
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, envyings, 
murders, drunkenness, revellings and such like." 
These we know to be " the works of the flesh," 
and cannot be ignorant that " they who do such 
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Even 



CHRISTIAN CONSECRATION OF THE BODY. 125 

heathen morality might go thus far, and many- 
heathens there have been, and no doubt are now, 
free from such gross vices ; yet their bodies are not 
members of Christ, nor are they temples of the 
Holy Ghost. 

Oitr bodies are. Therefore, not morality only, 
but, holiness — active, living holiness, holiness unto 
the Lord in both body and soul — is our reasonable 
service and bounden duty. The call is : Be ye 
holy, as God is holy : be ye separate from sinners, 
and undefiled from the great offence : be in very 
deed, as ye are in name, *' a peculiar people," " in 
the world, but not of the world," and therefore " not 
conformed to the world," not conformed to its 
frivolities, its pomps and vanities ; but so separate, 
so peculiar, so holy and zealous in all good works, 
that ye may be " as a city set on a hill which 
cannot be hid," and as lights shedding all around 
you, wherever ye may be, a holy, heavenly influence 
seen and felt of all. Be as epistles, " living epistles," 
so that all may see and read that ye are a holy 
people unto the Lord, His elect, children of His 
Beloved, joined as living members with their living 
head to His Incarnate, Immaculate Son. To sum 
up all in one inspired sentence — inspired do we say } 
— ay, in the language of Him who is the Fountain 



126 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

of all inspiration, the Light and the Life of the 
world, Him whose members our bodies are : " Be 
ye perfect^ even as your Father in heaven is perfect ^ 
Does this seem like a hard saying ? Let us re- 
member it is the saying of Him whose servants we 
profess to be, and who will in the last day be our 
Judge. It is the ride which He has set before us 
and commanded us to walk by. If we be His, this, 
and nothing short of it, must be the rule by which 
we walk, the standard at which we aim : to be holy, 
as He is holy, perfect, as God in heaven is perfect ; 
perfect in our bodies as well as in our souls, perfect 
in all things, whether we eat, or drink, or whatsoever 
we do, doing all to the glory of God. 

True, indeed, the higher our aim, the more 
humbling will be our consciousness of continually 
coming short of it. This side of eternity we may 
never reach it. When we have done all, we shall 
still be but unprofitable, miserably unprofitable, 
servants ; and so we have no righteousness of our 
own to trust in, no merit to plead, as a ground 
of salvation. The Cross of Christ must, after all 
we have done or may do, be our only plea ; His 
meritorious grace our only ground of hope : but 
still, it is infallibly certain that unless we aim to 
be perfect ; unless we remember that we are not 



CHRISTIAN CONSECRATION OF THE BODY. 127 

our own, but bought with a price ; unless we 
realise that our bodies are temples of the Holy 
Ghost ; unless we glorify God in our bodies and 
our spirits, which are God's ; unless we present, 
here and now and all through life, our bodies a 
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, He 
will not recognise us at the last day as His, nor 
receive us as the children of His kingdom. 

God forbid, that any word of ours should dis- 
courage any one who is honestly struggling in 
conscious weakness against the corruption of nature ! 
but, can we have before us this high standard, as 
that which the Word of God alone authorises, for 
the Christian life, without thought of the danger, 
not less than of the utter inconsistency, of those 
who have been baptised into Christ's Body, but 
who are, nevertheless, living carelessly, impenitently, 
thoughtlessly, godlessly, as the children of this 
world ? In a vision of one of the old Prophets, 
there was a revelation of the abominations which 
were secretly practised in the house of God, and 
by which even the very inner court of the sanctuary 
was defiled. The Prophet was bidden to dig in 
the wall, and to enter the temple by a secret door 
that he should find. He tells us that, when he 
went in and saw, " Behold, every form of creeping 



128 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols 
of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall 
round about. Then said He " — the Lord God 
— " unto me : Son of man, hast thou seen what the 
ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, 
every man in the chambers of his imagery ? For 
they say. The Lord seeth us not ; the Lord hath 
forsaken the earth." Has this vision no appli- 
cation now ? Has it no warning for those who 
have once been made " members of Christ," 
" temples of the Holy Ghost," but who are now, 
and that confessedly and consciously, walking after 
the lusts of the flesh : their bodies unhallowed, 
desecrated, defiled ; the holy altar overthrown, 
and the altar of idols and of devils set up in its 
place } Is there no handwriting on those dese- 
crated walls, — " Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin " ? Is 
there no voice that speaks the sentence from that 
polluted altar — " He that defileth the temple of 
God, him shall God destroy " ? 

Let no one of us be unmindful of the possible 
application to himself. 

Let no one of us be insensible of the mercies of 
God of which we, in the Christian dispensation, 
have been the recipients ; nor fail, by a sense of 
those mercies, to resolve, with an earnestness and 



CHRISTIAN CONSECRATION OF THE BODY. 129 

persistence of resolution beyond any heretofore, 
that our bodies shall be presented, in very deed 
and by daily sacrifice, unto Him who hath washed 
and redeemed us by His blood that we might be 
holy and acceptable in His sight. 



CHAPTER X. 

CHRISTIAN PROFESSION AND USE OF 
WEALTH. 



"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and mst 
doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal ; but lay up 
for yourselves treasures in heaven, whex"e neither moth nor rust doth 
corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal : for where 
your treasure is, there will your heart be also."' — St. Matthew vi. 
19 — 21. 



*" I ^HERE can be no question that the Sermon on 
the Mount is a fundamental document in the 
Christian revelation. Delivered, as it was, in the 
very beginning of our Lord's ministry, it was clearly 
intended by Him to be understood as a summary 
proclamation of the practical principles of His 
religion in contradistinction to the principles of other 
religious systems, and, particularly, those prevailing 
in that age. . The remark of the multitude at the 
time, that He taught them " not as the scribes," is 
true therefore in a deeper sense than they probably 
meant or thought of. The teaching of Christ herein is 
"not as the scribes," not only in that it was charged 
with authority and power in the utterance which no 
mere human scribe is capable of, but also in that 
its fundamental principles are, in all cases, far deeper 
and truer than the principles which the Jewish 
teachers inculcated, and, in some, radically subversive 
of them. 

In such a fundamental proclamation, it is certainly 



134 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

remarkable, that a considerable section is devoted 
to the principles and motives which should govern 
men in their daily labour for subsistence and for 
wealth in this world. We should be at a loss to 
account for the introduction of such a topic in such 
a document, were it not in the subsequent teachings 
of the New Testament made abundantly clear that 
the religion of Christ does include, among its 
distinctive, fundamental, practical principles, one 
relating directly both to common labour and business 
of the world and intended to have a very decided 
influence upon its disciples, inasmuch as it touches 
the very spring of all their conduct in the prosecu- 
tion of such business. 

What this principle is, to what extent and under 
what circumstances it is applicable to us, and what 
are the obligations which it imposes upon us — are 
questions which are certainly entitled to the most 
thoughtful and conscientious consideration of every 
Christian man. 

The opinion which is common, and may be 
almost said to be universal, in our current modern 
Christianity, is that it amounts to no more than 
this : viz., that " professing " Christians should be 
careful not to become too exclusively absorbed in the 
pursuit, or too covetously possessed with a desire for 



CHRISTIAN PROFESSION. 135 



the accumulation, of worldly wealth ; that they are 
not to set their hearts so much on it as to prefer 
it to heavenly riches ; that they must be honest and 
upright, pursuing it always by fair means and secur- 
ing it by equitable methods, never suffering their 
eagerness for it to lead them into a violation either 
of the divine commandments or the laws of the 
land. With these restrictions, it is commonly 
thought that there is nothing in the religion of 
Christ that is incompatible with the most determined 
and untiring pursuit of wealth. Indeed, it is 
generally taken for granted, that such pursuit is a 
proper exercise of certain important Christian 
virtues, — as industry, diligence in one's calling, and 
faithfulness to one's family and other dependants. 

It would seem, however, hardly possible for any one 
to read thoughtfully such passages as those under 
consideration, without having at least a suspicion 
that they must mean more than this. For if this 
were all their import, it is indeed a wonder that our 
Lord should have introduced the subject into the 
Sermon on the Mount, or that it should have been 
so often referred to in the subsequent teachings both 
of Himself and His inspired Apostles. What was 
there, on this supposition, in any sense peculiar in 
His requirements ? What addition did He make to 



136 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

the stock of ethical knowledge which had previously- 
existed either among the Jews or even the heathens ? 
Was it ever seriously maintained by anybody that it 
can be right to pursue the things of this life im- 
moderately, with a zeal and an eagerness dispro- 
portioned to their real value, to the neglect of 
higher interest, or in disregard of the principles of 
justice and honesty ? Many have done this, it is 
true : many more than are themselves aware. But 
who would think of defending it ? Who would not 
repudiate the imputation of it, if charged upon him- 
self ? There is no need of revelation to teach men 
this. It is a principle so plain and obvious, that no 
one who listens to the voice of reason can fail to 
perceive and acknowledge it. It might well be 
asked then, and that without impiety, If Christ 
inculcated no more than this, what did He more 
than others .? what more than the scribes and 
Pharisees, whose systems He was here professedly 
holding up as defective } Did they teach that it is 
justifiable to set the heart exclusively on worldly 
goods .'* or to love them so much as, for the 
sake of them and in their pursuit, to be dishonest, 
or in any other respect to disregard the laws of God 
and of society ? Certainly not. There was no such 
defect in their ethical system. It would seem, 



CHRISTIAN PROFESSION. 137 

therefore, that there must be some deeper meaning 
than the current opinion recognises in these precepts 
of the Christian revelation. 

Again, without admitting a deeper meaning we 
do not see how it is possible to account for the 
New Testament language. It has no terms of 
qualification. It does not speak of degrees, but of 
fundamental principles. It does not say : " Set not 
your affections too tnuch on earthly things," but, very 
unqualifiedly : *^ Set your affections on things above, 
not on things on earth." Christ does not warn His 
disciples against serving Mammon so absorbingly as 
to forget that there is some sort of obligation due 
to God ; but His plain vv^arning is that Mammon 
cannot be served at all without entire opposition to 
divine allegiance. He does not advise them against 
a too exclusive or too slavish devotion of life to the 
laying up of treasures upon earth ; but His un- 
qualified direction is : " Lay not up for yourselves 
treasures upon earth, ... let your treasure be in 
heaven : for where your treasure is, there will your 
heart be also." The Apostle does not write : " Do 
not love the world too much or too exclusively " : 
but, "Love not the world, neither the things that 
are in the world : if any man love the world, the 
love of the Father is not in him." Surely, such pre- 



138 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

cepts as these must not be frittered away. They 
are deeper and truer than the teaching of any 
heathen philosopher or Jewish scribe. They do — 
they must — call every one who accepts and conforms 
to them to a far higher life, a life of infinitely loftier 
aspirations and more enduring purposes, than is 
commonly recognised or aimed at in our modern 
Christianity. 

The key to their real import is, doubtless, to be 
found in the fact that the Christian revelation has 
brought Life and Immortality to light. Christ, first 
of all and alone, disclosed the true relation of the 
life that now is, to the life which is to come. He 
taught that this world, since the Fall, is designed for 
no other purpose than for probation ground ; that 
its life is in no sense man's true life, but only a 
temporary tenancy, in which he is, under the condi- 
tion of redemption, a " steward " of God ; not having, 
nor by any possibility capable of having, anything as 
his own, but occupying his place and estate, what- 
ever it may be, solely at God's will, and for the 
single purpose of working out the divinely ordained 
conditions of salvation unto the life everlasting. 

It is in the light of this revelation that the pre- 
cepts under consideration have been given. Life and 
Immortality are brought to light. Heaven is revealed 



CHRISTIAN PROFESSION. 139 

as the true home — the real destination and eternal 
abode — of the regenerated family of man. Obviously, 
then, it is in the light of this revelation, and in 
regard to this great fact, that these practical precepts 
are to be considered and construed. 

So considered, they can be understood as tanta- 
mount to nothing less than this : Strive to secure 
for yourselves that Life and Immortality. Make 
the true use of your time and talents in this world. 
Do not make the things of earth objects of your 
pursuit, nor set your affections on them, as if they 
could be in any true sense or for any considerable 
length of time your own. They are only lent to 
you : only placed in your hands on trust, for the 
accomplishment of God's purposes here, and your 
eternal happiness hereafter. You are citizens of 
heaven, not of earth ; destined for eternity, not for 
time ; sons and heirs of God, not of man. Live, 
then, as such. Let your conversation (citizenship) 
be in heaven. Set your affections on things above, 
not on things on earth. Walk by faith, not by sight. 

If we accept this as the general import of these 
passages, their pertinency as Christian precepts is 
obvious, inasmuch as they express but the legitimate 
practical consequence of that revelation of the life 
eternal which is a special characteristic of the 



I40 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE, 

Christian dispensation. Faith in this revelation is 
made, then, clearly a most practical principle. It 
is, in very truth, the substance of the things hoped 
for and the evidence of the things not seen. To be 
actuated by it is something much more real, much 
more effective in relation to the whole business of 
life, than is implied in the shallow phraseology of a 
faithless age when men talk about making " a pro- 
fession of religion." A profession, indeed ! Nay, 
the \'Q,xy warp and vroof of life, with its whole colour 
and texture, are included in the requirement : " Lay 
not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where 
moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break 
through and steal ; but lay up for yourselves treasures 
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, 
and where thieves do not break through and steal : 
for where your treasure is, there will your heart be 
also." 

It may be asked, is it a practicable thing to bring 
these principles into the real life of this world } 
Would not the attempt, in so far as it could be 
successful, result in making men mere visionaries 
and fanatics, totally unfitting them for the accom- 
plishment of the necessary business, or the discharge 
of the actual responsibilities of life } Does not a 
successful prosecution of any kind of business im- 



CHRISTIAN PROFESSION. 141 



peratively demand devotion to it ? Is it not, there- 
fore, absolutely necessary that men should mind 
earthly things, mind them very closely, consider 
them very carefully, know their exact value, and 
seize upon every opportunity to put them to the 
most profitable investments ? How then could the 
business of the world be carried on, if it came to 
be generally understood that Christianity requires 
a real (and not merely technical, or professional) 
living for, and pursuit of things unseen and eternal ? 
In reply to which, we have to say, that we 
believe it is altogether practicable. We see no such 
difficulty as is there apprehended in a life of real 
faith. On the contrary, we claim that the more 
completely our whole life, with its entire conduct, 
is based on the great fact that our treasure is in 
heaven, the truer will be our estimate, and the 
better our use, of all the treasures of earth. Let a 
man begin life with a steadfast determination not to 
set his heart on any earthly thing, — that is, not to 
place any such thing before him as the object, or 
final end, of living, — but, to fix his eye on heaven, 
make that his object, and start in pursuit of it, 
regarding his calling in life as the road which leads 
to it, and all the relations of life as subservient 
to it : what will be the practical effect ? It is clear, 



142 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

in the first place, that, let his lot be what it may, he 
will do his duty in it. Realising his responsibilities 
to God, and aiming ever to promote His glory, he 
must prove to be a faithful steward in discharging 
all his obligations in all the relations of life. So, 
because success in life is the ordinary consequence 
of diligence and fidelity in the discharge of its 
duties, he will be most likely to succeed even in 
this world, and really to obtain its goods, at least 
sufficiently for his true welfare, without deeming the 
attainment any test or measure of the life's success. 

Let no one, then, plead their impracticability, as 
reason for explaining away, or for neglecting to act 
upon, these precepts of Christ. Try them first, let 
them be thoroughly tested by practical living, and all 
ground for this plea will vanish. 

It may however, we admit, be reasonably 
questioned whether the general adoption of these 
principles would not be somewhat revolutionary 
in our modern Christendom : whether it would not 
lead necessarily to such radical changes as would 
affect the whole social economy and give rise to 
entirely new social problems. For instance, even if 
it be granted that they are not incompatible with 
the measure of success in life which is an ordinary 
consequence of industry and faithfulness in one's 



CHRISTIAN PROFESSION. 143 

calling, are they, or can they be, consistent with the 
pursuit, or even the continual possession, of immense 
wealth ? Would it be possible for one to accumu- 
late very largely while living and doing business on 
these principles ? Or, in case of inherited wealth, 
would one dare to hold it ? Would it not be the 
very first duty, in such case, for the man to sell that 
which he had, and give to the poor ? Would not 
society be reduced, consequently, to a dead level, in 
which there would be no stimulus for energetic 
ability, no reward for enterprise, but in which idle- 
ness and worthlessness would thrive and fatten ? 

Two or three suggestions may throw light on 
these points, and help us to see wherein and to 
what extent the principles under consideration may 
and should be adopted in our lives and business. 

On the supposition, then, of the general adoption 
of these principles — that is, the realisation of the 
true ideal of the Christian social state — it is clear, in 
the first place, that there would be no place for 
idleness or worthlessness, because it would be the 
generally accepted rule that every person should do 
his duty in the station of life to which it had pleased 
God to call him. 

Then, secondly, since the conditions of success in 
life would consist then, as now, partly in personal 



144 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

capabilities and partly in advantages of Providential 
allotment, and since these conditions would be then, 
as now, variously distributed, it is plain that the 
degrees of success, which individuals in the general 
competition severally attain to, would not be much, 
if any, less various than they are now. So that 
there need be no fear of reducing society to a dead 
level ; though if it should happen that less import- 
ance should be attached to distinctions that are 
merely artificial and conventional, and that more of 
helpful and kindly sympathy should be extended to 
the unsuccessful strugglers, it is safe to say that 
society would suffer no loss. 

In the case of inherited wealth, the very in- 
heritance involves obligations which the principles 
under consideration would not require, nor allow, 
the inheritors to throw off. These obligations can, 
ordinarily, be most effectively met, not by an 
indiscriminate scattering of the inheritance, nor even 
by hasty, though discriminating, distribution of it 
among the needy ; but, rather, by a conscientious 
holding of the trust, and by such an administra- 
tion and use of it as would meet the conditions 
of a faithful stewardship. How these conditions 
could be met by hoarding wealth, or by using 
it solely or chiefly for personal gratification or 



CHRISTIAN PROFESSION. 145 

aggrandisement, we confess ourselves unable to 
see. 

The conclusion of the whole matter seems clearly 
to be this : that it is the unquestionable obligation 
of every one of us to understand and realise that 
we are creatures of God, and are living here in His 
world ; that we have, or can have, nothing that is 
really our own, or anything held by us on any 
other terms than that of a temporal and conditional 
tenancy ; and, therefore, whether we hold little or 
much, that we are to account ourselves simply His 
stewards ; if it be little, stewards in the use of that 
little, to learn and grow in the graces of patience, 
contentment, and loving trust ; if much, stewards 
still with correspondingly larger responsibilities, to 
help others who are struggling in the lack of our 
endowed ability or our Providential advantages, and 
to further, in all the ways and through all the 
relations which are legitimately open to our bene- 
factions, the divine purposes of mercy and love. 



10 



CHAPTER XI. 

CHRISTIAN HONESTY. 



Provide things honest in the sight of all men.' — Romans xii. 17. 



TTTE suppose that every one on hearing this 
precept would say that it is very plain, 
easy to be understood, and incumbent upon every 
person for practical application. We suppose that 
most persons would not only say this, but also 
claim that they have understood and practised it, 
as their uniform rule of life from youth up, and 
would feel grossly insulted if the truth of the claim 
should be doubted by another. The old line — 

" An honest man's the noblest work of God," 

is often quoted with complacent satisfaction, and 
many who are not over-sensitive on other points, 
are exceedingly tenacious of their reputation in 
this. 

It may be that a careful consideration of this 
precept will show it to contain a deeper and more 
comprehensive meaning than appears on the surface. 

There is in it, obviously, an exhortation to a 
duty : Provide ; and a rule as to the manner in 



ISO CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

which this duty is to be performed : " Provide 
things honest in the sight of all men." 

Let us give our first consideration to the duty : 
Provide. 

It is plain enough that the world in which our 
present life is cast abounds in all things needful 
for its sustenance ; but it is equally plain that 
these things are not the property of any one till 
he has earned a title to them. The law of life, 
which is universal, for all alike, is : " In the sweat 
of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return 
unto the ground." This means that all sustenance 
must come to us as the product of labour ; that 
without labour, whether of the hand or brain, no 
one can have his portion in the goods of this life. 

On the ground of imperative duty, therefore, as 
well as from regard for personal welfare, every one 
living is bound to provide for his sustenance by a 
systematically industrious use of his faculties and 
opportunities. This does not mean that there is 
an obligation to that labour which toils to get, 
merely for the sake of getting, which grasps eagerly 
after large possessions, seeking to join house to 
house and field to field ; for this is plainly stigma- 
tised in Holy Scripture as " covetousness, which is 
idolatry." But it does mean that no one has a 



CHRISTIAN HONESTY, 151 

right to remain idle, neglecting to employ his 
faculties and burying talents which have been in- 
trusted to him for use ; for, in such idleness there 
is guilt, both of ingratitude toward God and of 
dishonesty toward men : of ingratitude toward God 
in neglecting the proper use of His gifts, and of 
dishonesty toward men in subsisting on others' 
earnings. Since every one living must be provided 
with things needful to sustain life, it is evident that 
just in proportion as any one fails to provide for 
himself, he must be provided for by some one else ; 
and so in every case of negligent inefficiency there 
is an unequal distribution of burdens, one being 
pressed down beneath a double load because another 
is empty-handed. 

It is further to be considered that, in the 
economy of life as it has been ordained by our 
Heavenly Father, there is an unequal distribution 
of responsibilities in this respect. " He hath set 
the solitary in families." In the family relations, 
the heads are not only empowered with authority 
over the subordinate members, but also charged 
with the responsibility of providing for them the 
necessaries of life. This is a duty, the obligation 
to which is so ingrained in the very constitution 
of human nature and society, that its neglect is 



152 CHRISTIANITY IN BAIL Y LIFE, 

declared by St. Paul to be a crime of more heinous 
guilt, because, we suppose, it is more unnatural, 
than even infidelity. He says : " If any man pro- 
vide not for his ow7t" that is, his own kin who are 
unable to support themselves, " and especially those 
of his own house," that is, those who compose his 
family, as wife, children, servants, " he hath denied 
the faith, and is worse than an infidel." 

Thus much, then, is clearly involved in the obliga- 
tion which is inculcated in the apostolic precept to 
provide. It is, simply, a fundamental law of life in 
this world, and to fulfil it is, simply, to meet the 
first condition of honest living. It means that work, 
regular daily work, work which is to be done steadily 
and industriously, is appointed for every one of us ; 
in the doing of which we are, no matter what our 
station, clearly and strangely authorised and required 
to consider ourselves as God's workmen. So the 
product of our work is to be accounted as His 
wages. It is the earning of living for ourselves, and 
for those whom He hath made, for the time being, 
dependent upon us. There is no better summary of 
it than that of the Church Catechism, wherein every 
one of us trained by the Church has been instructed 
from childhood to say, it is my duty to " learn and 
labour truly to get mine own living, and to do my 



CHRISTIAN HONESTY. 153 

duty in that state of life unto which it shall please 
God to call me." 

But something beyond this is enjoined in the 
Apostolic precept. It recognises not only the 
fundamental duty, but also directs how the duty is 
to be performed. It tells us not only to provide, 
but to provide things honest in the sight of all men. 
The question now is : how much is implied in this ? 

First, of course, that our calling is to be an honest 
one, and our daily work that which we ought to do : 
something which makes a just and innocent contri- 
bution to the sum of life's use and enjoyment. This 
is too obvious to need insisting on : but if there 
should possibly be any one, and especially a young 
man, who is inclined to take up for his practical 
adoption that trifling saying : " the world owed me 
a living," let him understand that the world owes 
no man a living, except that which he honestly 
earns. 

The question — How much is implied in the obliga- 
tion to earn an honest living ? has, however, a deeper 
and further reaching significance for those who, as 
heads of families, are constituted providers for 
natural dependents, as well as for themselves. 

The answer to the question in general terms 
would be, that it means the obligation to provide 



154 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

for such dependants, so far as is within the scope of 
his ability, all things which are necessary for their 
best welfare. 

Yea, more specifically, it must mean, in the first 
place, that whatever is needful to sustain and pro- 
mote bodily health and strength is to be provided. 
Food, sufificient and of a wholesome quality, clothing 
adapted to the changing seasons, and a home for 
shelter, security and rest, — these are the necessaries of 
life. They must be provided ; and, since children 
are incapable of providing them for themselves, it is 
made the clear duty of the parental head to provide 
for them. The parent who should wilfully refuse 
or neglect to make such provision not only violates 
his obligation before God, but would justly be 
abhorred as a monster by the common consent of 
mankind. 

When the obligation has been, in this degree 
and to this extent, fairly and fully m.et, and every 
reasonable bodily want is cared for, will any one 
contend that the obligation has been entirely dis- 
charged ? 

It would be, unquestionably, if children were 
nothing more than material bodies. Then it would 
be sufficient to feed and clothe them, as cattle are 
fed and sheltered from the weather. But who does 



CHRISTIAN HONESTY. 155 

not indignantly reject such a thought ? Who does 
not say : " Our children are not mere material 
bodies ; they are intellectual and spiritual beings ; 
they are endowed by the Creator with mental 
faculties and gifted with immortal souls ; ay, even 
more true to say, themselves are souls, which will 
live for ever, and of which the mortal body is merely 
the earthly tabernacle ! In saying it, who can help 
seeing and feeling that the obligation to provide 
is indeed a very high obligation ? If those, who 
have been made by the Almighty Father dependent 
on us, are intellectual and spiritual beings, then is it 
not quite certain that our obligation involves the 
duty of providing for them intellectual and spiritual 
sustenance ? They are endowed with mental 
faculties : they can be taught, they can be trained ; 
and upon this teaching and training will, ordinarily, 
depend their future standing in life. There is much 
for them to learn ; much that is necessary to qualify 
them for the common duties of life; much more that 
is calculated to further their happiness and give 
them useful, respectable, and honourable stations 
among men. This teaching must be provided for 
them, and without controversy, the parent is to 
provide it, according to his ability. Ay, and if 
need be, he is to make great sacrifices in order to 



156 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE, 

provide it. What would be thought of that father 
or mother, who, so long as they had a crust of 
bread, would turn their starving children out upon 
the mercy of the weather and the world ? But, are 
parents less culpable, who, by their own wilful 
neglect, will suffer their children to grow up as if 
they were in the order of being no higher than mere 
animals ; vv'ith their mental nature star\ang for the 
knowledge which is absolutely necessary for its 
sustenance and for their usefulness and happiness 
in the world ?. 

There can be but one answer to such a question. 
Let us consider further. When the bodily wants 
are supplied and the mental faculties put under 
cultivation, is the duty of making provision, even 
then, completely and honestly discharged ? It would 
be, if the physical and the mental were ail that is in 
human nature : but this is not true ; there are still 
other and higher faculties. We are spiritual^ as well 
as physical and mental, beings. We are endowed 
with souls, which are immortal, and whose existence 
must be eternal for either bliss or woe. Shall this 
part of our nature be neglected ^ Shall we pamper 
the body and fill the mind, but yet leave the soul, 
the immortal spirit, for which the Redeemer died, 
and which is most truly ourself, to perish eternally for 



CHRISTIAN HONESTY. 157 



want of the Bread of Life ? Is not the soul worth 
infinitely more than the body ? Do not the interests 
of eternity immeasurably transcend the interests of 
time ? Shall that, then, which is comparatively of 
little importance, be allowed to swallov/ up that 
which is all-important ? 

Surely, the case here too is clear ; and it must be 
admitted that he only fulfils the obligation, which is 
enjoined in the Apostolic precept, who makes 
provision, and that honestly, for the soul as well as 
for the body and the mind. 

Is it to be inferred, that the Bread of Spiritual 
Life is to be valued at a price, and paid for accord- 
ing to one's estimation of its worth ? Is it implied 
that the gift of God is, in any sense, purchasable 
with money ? 

Most assuredly not ; no more than that the 
honest payment of a teacher, whether directly or 
by participation in some system of common 
provision, is to be understood as implying that 
the worth of the knowledge has been estimated and 
that the teacher's remuneration is its price. Very 
low notions indeed of the worth of knowledge 
must one have, to imagine this. Certainly, there 
is no reflecting parent who does not feel that 
knowledge is above all price : that not all the 



158 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

wealth of Crcesus can pay an equivalent for it ; 
therefore, that what he can do and what he is 
bound to do is, simply, to contribute his equitable, 
honest proportion toward the support of those 
whose lives are devoted to the imparting of it. 

Equally so, and in a much higher sense, that 
wisdom which is heavenly, that knowledge which 
renders the immortal soul wise unto salvation, is 
above all price. It is of more value than treasures 
of silver and gold ; of more worth than rubies. 
But it is appointed of God to be transmitted 
through the successive generations and among 
all nations of the world by human teaching : those, 
who are called to this office by the divine Spirit 
and authorised by the divine commission, are 
bound to devote to it all their time and talents. 
It follows that they are to be supported honestly 
in life as others ; and " the Lord hath ordained 
that they who preach the Gospel should live of the 
Gospel." So then, the obligation of their support 
is thrown, ordinarily, by divine appointment, on 
those who receive the ministrations. And so, 
every one who has a soul, or who has any creatures 
with souls dependent on him, is bound by the 
obligations of Christian honesty to give his equitable 
proportion toward their support. Thus, natural 



CHRISTIAN HONESTY, 159 

duty is taken up into higher service, and the 
precept even of natural religion has its rightful 
place in the New Testament Scriptures, and finds 
its legitimate application in the Christian life : 
" Provide things honest in the sight of all men^ 

It must be added, however, that, as the Christian 
redemption is a divine provision for a world that 
had fallen from the knowledge of God, there is in 
it the clearest possible recognition of the fact that, 
in every generation and family of mankind, there 
is sure to be a general indifference to the need or 
worth of its provisions ; that there will always be 
many who cannot provide adequately, and very 
many more who will not provide honestly, for the 
wants of the spiritual nature ; and, hence, that they 
must either be left to starve spiritually or else be 
provided for by others. In this case and relation, 
they are objects of Christian charity. It need 
scarcely be said that it is incumbent on every 
Christian man or woman to whom God hath given 
ability, to exercise this charity zealously and gladly 
according to the measure of that ability. But the 
point here made is, that, until such providing does 
thus go beyond ourselves and our natural depend- 
ants, it is not charity, but, simply. Christian 
honesty. 



i6o CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

Such then we take to be the conditions of honest 
providing by the Christian rule. It has respect 
to all the wants of our nature, — physical, mental, 
and spiritual, — and demands that for all alike, 
whatsoever is requisite to promote well-being shall 
be, so far as by our faithful and diligent efforts 
it can be, honestly obtained : all alike being de- 
pendent on such effort for sustenance, and requiring 
alike a thorough conformity to the principles of 
honesty in securing it. 

There is need, in these days and in this country 
especially, that the principle of Christian honesty in 
all its bearings and relations should be clearly 
asserted. There is no practical subject in respect 
to which there is a more widespread and per- 
nicious prevalence of loose and erroneous notions. 
It is admitted on all hands that the wants of the 
body should be provided for ; and that, to work 
hard, day after day, for this, and even to practise 
self-sacrifice, for the sake of keeping one's family 
from suffering under these wants, is nothing more 
than common honesty. The wants of the higher, 
mental nature are also appreciated ; though, it must 
be confessed, with less earnestness : while those of 
the highest, the true, spiritual nature, can hardly be 
said to be, in a proper sense, appreciated at all. 



CHRISTIAN- HONESTY. i6i 

See how it works. Here is a man, the head of a 
family, who receives from his business, or other 
source, a sufficient current income for a reasonable 
supply for all his personal and family needs. He 
claims to be an honest man, and means to provide 
honestly all that his family requires for its comfort 
and happiness. It seems clear that a conformity 
to the principles of Christian honesty as enjoined 
by the Apostle, would require him to give due con- 
sideration to the claims of the body, the mind, 
and the soul ; and, in distributing his expenditures, 
to set apart for each of these its equitable propor- 
tion : but how is it in fact } Do we not all know 
that there are thousands upon thousands, with such 
incomes, who never think of the soul, and scarcely 
of the mind, but give the whole to the poor, corrup- 
tible body, and even then, from their exaggerated 
estimation of its needs, find it very difficult to pay 
their debts 1 A better sort attach considerable 
importance to education, and to secure it will not 
grudge a liberal proportion of their estimated 
expenditures. Some also take thought for the soul. 
But, how common the notion that this is a sort of 
charity, and that whatever Is appropriated for its 
instruction and edification is purely voluntary, and 
therefore the measure, not of their honesty, but 

1 1 



l62 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

of their generosity ! So, whether the income be 
moderate or large, the physical, or the physical and 
mental, wants absorb all but a mere pittance ; and 
that pittance, whether given or withheld, is put 
entirely out of the scale when the man's honesty or 
dishonesty is weighed. If given, it is an instance 
of his liberality ; if withheld, his reputation as an 
honest provider for himself and his family is not 
impeached ! 

We might speak of the ruinous issues of such a 
standard. The truth is that the interests, not only 
of religion, but of all that make this life worth living, 
are imperilled by it ; and nothing but the unquali- 
fied position that men have no soul, and that their 
children are likewise creatures without souls, can 
justify the standard of estimation, as to the 
obligations of simple honesty, in this respect, which 
now commonly obtains. 

Without enlarging on this thought, we urge, in 
closing, for an earnest consideration of the subject in 
its bearing on each one's personal accountability. If 
the Apostle's precept be taken, as it should, into our 
own personal standard of honest living, we shall 
assuredly count it as right and requisite that 
we should work systematically, work persistently, 
work in the right use of the right means, for the 



CHRISTIAN HONESTY. 163 

sustenance and welfare of that part of our nature 
which is spiritual and immortal, as for that which 
belongs only to the lower order which is earthly and 
perishable, and our life then will be ordered in all 
its relations, in harmony with the Christian ideal, as 
it is expressed in one of the grandest of the old 
Collects : " that being ready both in body and soul," 
we " may cheerfully accomplish those things which 
God," your Maker and Almighty Father, " would 
have done : through Christ, His Son, our Lord." 



CHAPTER XII. 
CHRISTIAN GIVING: FALSE AND TRUE. 



"And Jesus sat over against the treasuiy, and beheld how the people 
cast money mto the treasury : and many that were rich cast in much. 
And there came a certain poor ^vidow^ and she threw in two mites, 
which make a farthing. And He called unto Him His disciples, and 
said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast 
more in than all they which have cast into the treasury : For all they 
did cast in of their abundance ; but she of her want did cast in all that 
she had, even all her li\dng. '" — St. ]NIark xii. 41 — 44. 



'TT^HE treasury, over against which our Lord sat 
-*" on this occasion, was, undoubtedly, the great 
money-chest of the Temple, which stood on the 
right side of the entrance, and into which the offer- 
ings of the people were cast, chiefly for the purpose 
of keeping the Temple and its furniture in repair ; 
and it is certainly calculated to awaken melancholy 
reflections when we remember the precise point of 
the Jewish history at which the scene here described 
was occurring. The doom of that magnificent 
temple and of the city in which it stood had already 
been pronounced. The ministry of the Son of God, 
through which its destruction might have been 
averted and it continued for all time to be " the joy 
and praise of the whole earth," had been rejected ; 
the final and irreversible conclusion respecting it 
had been given in the sentence : " There shall not 
be left in thee one stone upon another ; because 
thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." Not 
many hours thereafter the vail of its holy of holies 



i68 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

was rent in twain, in the hour of darkness that fell 
upon the final consummation of the Redeemer's 
rejection, in His subjection to shame, torture, and 
death on the cross : and fewer were the years that 
intervened before the sentence of its destruction was 
fulfilled, and it was abandoned to the utter deso- 
lation in which it has ever since remained. Yet 
we see here the very people, whose unfaithfulness 
to the conditions of their election had incurred 
the judicial visitation of God's wrath, and was then 
about to bring its fulfilment in the utter destruction 
of the Temple, rendering still their contributions to 
keep up the repairs of this Temple and to carry on 
its increasingly magnificent adornments ; and it 
would seem from the narrative that they did this 
liberally. It is not probable that our Lord was 
sitting very long over against the treasury, yet the 
Evangelist tells us that He saw " many of the rich 
cast in much." 

It is very observable, that none of these, how- 
ever munificent their offerings, elicited from Him 
any remark. It was not until '' a certain poor 
widow " was seen approaching with her offering, not 
till, " of her penury," she had " cast in two mites 
which make a farthing," that He was moved to 
utter any special commendation : then He was so 



CHRISTIAN GIVING: FALSE AND TRUE. 169 

moved. He " called His disciples " to Him, that 
they might not lose the instructive lesson, and, 
pointing to that poor widow, declared to them that, 
in His estimation, " she had cast in more than all 
they which had cast into the treasury, for while they 
had cast in of their abundance, she, of her want, had 
cast in all that she had, even all her living." 

When we bear in mind that He who said 
this is to be our final Judge, and that, on precisely 
the same principles as those which prompted that 
utterance, will the final judgment be conducted, and 
all that we may give or do be estimated, it certainly 
becomes a matter of vital personal interest for us 
to understand precisely what He meant when He 
declared that the poor widow had cast in more than 
all the others. 

It is obvious, at once, that she had cast in more 
in proportion to her ability. However much the rich 
had cast in, there had been no occasion for any 
considerable self-denial in their offerings ; nor is it 
probable that, in other cases, offerings had been 
made at the sacrifice of any of the real necessaries 
of life : but, in her case, this was manifestly the 
truth. The two mites were not the little that she 
could spare from her daily earning after making full 
provision for the morrow's need, but it is expressly 



I70 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

said to have been an offering that came from her 
stinted living, and that could have been made only 
as the fruit, not simply of her toil, but also " of 
Jier wantr All that is too obvious to have probably 
elicited any remark from the Saviour ; or, at least, it 
is not to be supposed that His meaning could have 
been restricted to the mere expression of this very 
obvious fact. 

He meant, no doubt, to be understood as declaring 
that, in a real, true sense, she had cast in absohttely 
more than all the rest ; that, in His estimation, her 
offering had a higher intrinsic value than theirs. 
To understand this, we have only to remember that 
His estimation was determined by the divine, not 
by the human standard ; and nothing is more certain, 
more clear from both Scripture and reason, than the 
truth that God's estimation of magnitude and 
quantity is essentially different from ours. We, in 
our littleness, can estimate things only as we see 
them. So we reckon some things as great and 
others small, the reckoning being always restricted 
to " the measure of a man." But to an Infinite 
Being, nothing can be really great but Himself. A 
world is to Him but an atom ; and an atom, being 
equally the product of His creative power, may be 
esteemed not less than a world. 



CHRISTIAN GIVING: FALSE AND TRUE. 171 



The same principle holds in relation to the 
estimate of time — as to its duration or extension — 
as is clearly implied in the inspired assertion, that 
" one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and 
a thousand years as one day." 

Precisely the same principle must hold good 
with respect to the estimation of value. As God is 
the Sovereign Creator of all things, it is, unquestion- 
ably, as easy for Him to create gold as dust ; and 
therefore there is no reason to suppose that in His 
estimation there can be any more intrinsic value in 
gold than in dust. It follows, then, that if in His 
infinite graciousness He permits men on the earth 
to make offerings unto Him and accepts these 
offerings, He only gives us opportunity in this 
way to make the acknowledgment of David : " All 
things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we 
given Thee." The silver and the gold are all His, 
and the very dust of the earth is equally His. He 
cannot be enriched by our offering of the one, any 
more than of the other. If the offering have nothing 
in it but its commercial value, though it amount 
by the commercial standard even to millions, it is 
counted as nothing in His judgment. 

There is one thing, and only one thing, that can 
render our offerings valuable in His sight. We are 



172 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

creatures of such sort, being endowed with reason, 
conscience, and will, that we are capable of being 
put on probation to determine whether we will have 
the Lord for our God or not. We are so constituted 
in this world that we can render the homage — and 
God, our heavenly Father, hath most plainly assured 
us that He appreciates, that He desires, and highly 
esteems, ay, that He delights in, our wilUng and 
loving homage — of devotion to Him. The Lord's 
delight is in them that love Him, and to do justice 
and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than 
sacrifice. Therefore, it follows that in just the 
degree that any offering is the expression, and so 
the measure, of devotion to God — of a loving interest 
in His service, — in just that degree must be its 
value in the sight of God. Whether large or small 
in human sight, it is large or small with Him only 
as it is more or less a true expression of a devoted, 
loving heart. 

With this principle in mind, let us take our 
stand in imagination with the disciples, by the side 
of Jesus, and note the different classes who brought 
their offerings to the treasury of the Temple. 

I . In the first place, then, among the " many rich 
men " who, as the Evangelist expressly tells us, 
" cast in much," it is far from improbable that 



CHRISTIAN GIVING: FALSE AND TRUE. 173 

there were some who thus cast in from no higher 
motive than sheer worldly pride. 

We can imagine such an one : honourable in his 
birth, his acquirements, his wealth, his foremost 
position among the citizens of Jerusalem, and the 
unquestionable integrity of his character. We need 
not imagine him to be haughty, or supercilious, or 
over-exacting ; but, quite the contrary, let him be 
all that in social life a man of such position ought 
to be. So, as he approaches the treasury, let the 
deference with which he is received — the ready giving 
way of the crowd that he may have no annoyance 
or hindrance, the respectful salutation of the better 
sort, the obsequiousness of the attendant officials — 
let it all be real, and, as men commonly speak, well 
deserved. He is, every inch, a citizen of glorious 
Jerusalem : proud, and justly proud, of it and of 
his position and rank in it. He is identified 
with all its magnificence, in all its exclusiveness ; 
and is entirely willing — nay, more than willing, in 
this regard also, proud — to be among the largest 
contributors to maintain this magnificence and to 
carry it forward. The offering of such an one 
must have been costly, and we may be sure that 
it received due consideration from the people and 
the priests. We do no read, however, that it 



174 CHRISTIAMTY IN DAILY LIFE. 

received any special commendation from Jesus. 
We know that, if esteemed by Him at all, it was 
held in lower value than the widow's farthing. 

Yet, let us observe, it would certainly be a 
very undiscriminating mistake to conclude, that in 
either his position, his reputation, his wealth or his 
due regard for the maintenance of noble rank by 
noble munificence, and much less, that in his high- 
minded recognition of a noble citizen's responsibility, 
lay the reason for the Lord's withholding of His 
approbation. One may, unquestionably, have and 
exercise all these as endowments, in trust for larger 
consecration to God's service, and so for the wider 
manifestations of the glory of divine grace. But 
the defect in the case here imagined, was that the 
offering was the fruit of no such consecration, the 
product of no loving devotion to God, but simply 
and solely of worldly pride. As such, however 
respectable among men and however useful in 
apparent results, it could have no value in the 
sight of Him who delighteth only in the homage 
of loving hearts. 

2. Akin to this sort of offerers were those, of 
whom we may be sure there must have been some 
that came under our Lord's observation, who came 
to the treasury, and cast \xi from mere pJiarisaistJi. 



CHRISTIAN GIVING: FALSE AND TRUE. 175 

With our Lord's own description of one such in 
the temple-worship, it is very easy to identify the 
characteristic marks of this class in their offerings : the 
self-righteous scrupulosity in determining the amount 
and in observing all the recognised proprieties of the 
time and place, the self-complacency in rendering and 
the self-satisfaction in reflecting upon the duty. It is 
equally easy to see how little there could have been 
in such an offering to receive the approbation of Jesus. 

Here again, to guard against possible and not 
very uncommon mistake, it may be well to dis- 
criminate, by recollecting that when Jesus Himself 
was, on another occasion, reproving the Pharisees, 
for omitting judgment, justice, and truth, while they 
were very scrupulous in paying tithes of mint, anise, 
and cummin, He did not condemn their scrupulous- 
ness in this latter regard, but simply said : " These 
ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other 
undone." So, if He accepted not their offerings, it 
was not because of their high regard for the cere- 
monials of religion, not because of their scrupulous 
observance of all the prescribed or recognised pro- 
prieties of these ceremonials, but simply because 
the motives which were really the root of all their 
observances were other than those which constitute 
the animating spirit of devoted and loving hearts. 



176 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE, 

3. A third sort — of whom we may reasonably 
suppose there must have been some representatives 
on this occasion — were such as cast in their offerings 
from a constraiiting sense of duty ; because, under- 
standing the necessary outlay of cost to keep the 
Temple in repair, and knowing it to be common 
property and a common benefit, they could not help 
recognising their participation in the common obliga- 
tion to bear all the needful expense of its preservation. 
The motive here is certainly a higher and better one 
than that of mere worldly pride or of self-righteous 
Pharisaism. So far as it goes, it is a good motive 
and one involving the honest recognition of unques- 
tionable obligations. But if it be without any root 
in loving devotion to God, if it spring from a sense 
of duty which exists only as a principle of constraint 
then the offering Vv-hich comes from it comes 
" grudgingly and of necessity," and falls far short of 
the approbation of God, who looketh only at the 
heart and loveth only " the cheerful giver." 

4. Still another sort we may suppose to have had 
representatives on the occasion before us — viz., those 
who gdiYe from mere impulse. 

One and another such we may imagine to have 
been passing while our Lord was sitting over against 
the treasury, and simply because they happened to 



CHRISTIAN GIVING: FALSE AND TRUE. 117 

be near it while others were casting in, and the 
proprieties of the time and place suggested, or 
seemed to require it, to have approached it and 
thrown in their chance contributions. Such offerings 
must of course have been made without any just 
sense of their obligation, without any consideration 
of the amount to be cast in, except probably to 
make it as little as decency would allow, and without 
care for the object to which the treasury gifts were 
to be appropriated. That they were the expression 
of no love to God, the tokens of no devotion to His 
service, is too obvious to require any remark. 

Such as these, then, we may reasonably suppose 
to have come under our Lord's observation. It is 
not to be doubted that there may have been others 
who gave from higher motives, and not a small pro- 
portion, probably, whose motives, though not likely 
to be analysed by themselves, were, as presented to 
the all-seeing eye of Jesus, of mixed qualities, partly 
religious or benevolent, and partly selfish or carnal. 
But we have the express authority of the Lord 
Himself for the conclusion respecting them, that 
they all gave of their abundance ; by which is not 
meant that they all gave abundantly^ nor yet that 
they had abundance to give ; for we should sadly 
miss the point in so understanding the assertion. 

12 



1 78 CHRIS TIAXITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

The meaning is, simply, that it was of their abund- 
ance that their gifts were offered ; of their abundance, 
their superfluity or sufficiency, the fruit, ox product of 
this, rather than the self-sacrifice or self-denial which 
has its root in pure, deep, zealous love to God. 

This was just the point of contrast with them in 

the offering of the poor widow. Not because she 

was poor, not the fact that she gave or could give 

but little ; but that being poor and having but little, 

she gave gladly, gratefully, lovingly, of that little. 

She could not give anything without stinting herself 

of her very living ; but in her loving heart she felt 

that it was far better to be stinted than not to give ; 

and so her very self-denial was turned unwittingly 

into a privilege, and the farthing that she cast in 

was made a thank-offering even of her penury. 

Therefore it was the measure of deeper, truer, more 

loving and zealous devotion, and therefore in the 

sight of Christ and of God it was more esteemed, 

more highly valued, than all the other offerings. It 

was in a real and true sense that the Lord declared 

that she had cast in " more than all they which had 

cast into the treasury ; for all they did cast in of 

their abundance, but she of her ivant did cast in all 

that she had, even all her living." 

Among the lessons which are to be learned 



CHRISTIAN GIVING: FALSE AND TRUE. 179 

from this example, there are two which are very 
clear. 

1. The first is a lesson of great encouragement to 
those who have but very little that they can, even 
by real self-denial, offer to God, and to whom that 
little seems too insignificant for His acceptance or 
notice. Oh, how comforting, how encouraging to 
such, the Saviour's notice of the poor widow ! how 
cheering His assurance that her offering was, in His 
estimation, more valuable than all the others ! 

2. A second lesson here taught not less clearly is, 
that faithful, loving, self-sacrificing hearts will ever 
find, and that too among even the very poorest as 
well as among the rich, something suitable to offer. 
There are few so poor as the widow in the Gospel ; 
and none with a heart like hers will ever be lacking 
in, at least, equal ability. Yet, it must be noted 
how entirely the point of the transaction is lost 
sight of, and how low and base a perversion is put 
upon the high example here presented, when people 
speak of giving their mite to any Christian bene- 
ficence. They mean, simply, that the sum which 
they have cast, or propose to cast, in is very small, 
as we may be quite sure it is : whereas, the widow's 
mite was " all that she had, even all her living " ! 

The example afforded in her offering is indeed so 



l8o CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

high as to be of rare attainment ; and one almost 
shrinks from presenting it as an example, lest it 
should seem altogether impracticable. But it has 
its place in the Gospel narrative, unquestionably, for 
this purpose ; and while fe\v of us can hope to 
attain to her singleness of motive, it is most 
important for us all to note and remember that it 
was this motive alone which elicited the marked 
commendation of Him who is to be our final Judge. 
There are special grounds of appeal for every 
religious or benevolent object, and all these may be 
of weight, and entitled to our consideration, in their 
place ; but, still it is true that if they supersede, if 
they be substituted for, loving devotion to God and 
our Saviour, the offerings which they may prompt 
us to make, however creditable in human estimation, 
will secure for us no approval from Him who 
values nothing but such devotion ; while, on the 
other hand, if there be in us- this devotion of the 
loving heart, and if our offerings be prompted and 
measured by it, we shall be certain to give, according 
to our ability, plenteously, if we have much ; gladly 
of the little, if we have but little ; and as certainly, 
our gifts will be accepted as valuable in the divine 
treasur}', and our name will have its place in the 
roll of the divine benediction. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
THE SIN OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 



" A certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a 
possession, and kept back part of the price, (his A^4fe also being priv}' 
to it,) and brought a certain part, and laid it at the Apostles' feet." — 
Acts v. i, 2. 



'nr^HIS transaction is presented in the inspired 
narrative in melancholy contrast with what is 
related in the verses immediately preceding : viz., 
that " the multitude of them that believed were of 
one heart and of one soul, neither said any of them 
that aught of the things which he possessed was 
his own ; but they had all things common, neither 
was there any of them that lacked, for as many as 
were possessors of houses or lands sold them and 
brought the prices of the things that were sold, and 
laid them down at the Apostles' feet ; and distribu- 
tion was made unto every man according as he had 
need." 

A most attractive and delightful picture this of 
the primitive Christian fellowship and charity : all 
the believers together, one in faith and members 
together in one Body ; united by such perfect bonds 
of loving argument, that they could be truly said to 
be " of one heart and of one soul " ; and this union 
accompanied by such " gladness and singleness of 



i84 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 



heart," by such simplicity and sincerity in their 
common intercourse, and by such grateful recognition 
of the divine goodness, that, " praising God, they 
had favour with all the people." 

Moreover, we have the explicit statement that 
" they had all things common," and that " no one 
said that aught of the things which he possessed 
was his own." 

Whether, indeed, this means, as the language 
seems to imply, that individual property-rights were 
entirely relinquished, and that, for a brief period in 
that infant stage of the Church, there was, literally, 
a community of goods ; or rather, that those who 
were property owners were so characterised by the 
spirit of Christian charity that there was a general 
readiness to sell even their houses and lands when- 
ever there was apparent occasion to prevent the 
suffering of want by any members of the common 
household, we may not be able at this remote day 
and in an age of so different characteristics to 
determine with absolute certainty. 

But it is clear that there was a combination of 
circumstances at that particular juncture which might 
well have called on the newly awakened and divinely 
quickened charity for special and extraordinary pro- 
visions. Many of the new converts were no doubt 



THE SIN OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 185 

foreign Jews, who, having embraced the religion of 
Jesus on the day of Pentecost, had remained at 
Jerusalem for further instruction, and being thus 
unexpectedly subject to expenses beyond those for 
which they had provided, and without access to their 
own personal means or resources, were temporarily 
dependent on the charitable aid of the Apostolic 
treasury supplied by the offerings of the resident 
and wealthier members. Then again, many of the 
native converts in humble condition would seem to 
have been quite likely to have lost the support 
which they had been previously accustomed to 
receive from their Jewish relatives and friends in 
the way either of direct assistance, or of traffic, or 
employment ; and now that they were Christians, 
may have been unable to avail themselves of the 
usual privilege of the poor in partaking of the relics 
of the Temple sacrifices. Besides these cases, there 
were considerations from other sources that may 
have influenced some of the disciples. Some who 
had lands out of Judea, after becoming Christians, 
determined not to return to their possessions but 
to continue with the Apostles in Jerusalem. We 
have the record of one such case, — viz., that of 
Barnabas, of whom it is related, that " having land 
in Cyprus, he sold it, and brought the money, and 



i86 CHRIST! A MTY IN DAILY LIFE. 

laid it at the Apostles' feet." On the other hand, 
some who were property owners in Jerusalem, know- 
ing from the Saviour's prophecy that the city would 
be destroyed, may well have prepared for their 
flisfht bv selling their houses and committing^ the 
proceeds to the care of the Apostles for the common 
benefit of the Church. 

These and other circumstances, clearly peculiar to 
the time, seem to be sufficient to account for the 
extraordinar}' provisions which are recorded as then 
made by Christian charit)', without a necessity of 
resorting to the theon.- of some commentators, that 
there was for a brief period in the Apostolic Church 
an entire and universal relinquishment of all property 
rights ; much less of admitting the notion that the 
Gospel was designed to destroy all social distinctions 
and establish a permanent community of possessions. 

Such a conclusion, though it has found its advo- 
cates, would be not only subversive of the principles 
of natural equity, but is also directly at variance 
with the general tenor and spirit of the divine 
revelation. 

Instead of subverting the ri^^hts of property 
and sweeping away the foundation on which those 
rights are commonly based, it, rather, ver}* clearly 
takes them for granted as fixed and settled, and 



THE SIN OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 187 

adds to them its sanction. For example, recognising 
the fact that there were, and were to be, in Chris- 
tendom, as out of it, those having rightful claims to 
be called " the rich," it exhorts them, not to an 
unqualified and undiscriminating surrender of their 
possessions, but, to be sober and thankful, modest 
and humble, bountiful and charitable, not setting 
their hearts on the uncertain riches, but counting 
themselves as stewards of God in the possession of 
them, and therefore using them as good stewards, 
with a thankful recognition of His bounty and a 
true regard for His purposes of mercy and saving 
love. On the other hand, the perpetual existence 
of the conditions of poverty is as clearly recognised, 
and the poor are exhorted to be patient and in- 
dustrious, to submit themselves contentedly to the 
wise orderings of divine Providence, and so to use 
the privations of the present life that, through them, 
they may attain to the inheritance of the unsearch- 
able riches of the life to come. 

In entire harmony with these principles, w€ have 
abundant evidence that, in fact, there were among 
the early Christians, as ever since and now, some 
rich and others poor. Thus, the benevolence of 
Dorcas — " full of good works and alms deeds which 
she did " — is recorded with commendation by St. 



l88 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

Luke. Again, we are told, that, on occasion of " a 
great dearth throughout all the world," the disciples 
of Antioch, " every man according to his ability^ 
determined to send relief unto the brethren in 
Judea, which also they did." So St. Paul reminds 
the Ephesian elders : " I have showed you all 
things, how that so labouring ye ought to support 
the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord 
Jesus, how He said : It is more blessed to give 
than to receive." So He admonishes the Corin- 
thians : " Now, concerning the collection for the 
saints, as I have given order to the Churches of 
Galatia, even so do ye ; upon the first day of the 
week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as 
God hath prospered him." Thus too, he gives 
instruction to Timothy for regulating the charities of 
the Church at Ephesus, and indicates the qualifica- 
tions of the widows who should be admitted to a 
participation in their administrations. 

All these examples illustrate the application of 
the Christian principles of almsgiving ; but, at the 
same time, it is clear that these principles would 
have been devoid of application or purpose unless 
there had been both rich and poor in the Apostolic 
Church. Therefore, our conclusion here must be, 
that, while we are, without doubt, bound as 



THE SIN OF ANANIAS AND SAPFHIRA. 189 

Christians to possess, and be actuated by, the same 
spirit of charitable benevolence that these primitive 
Christians exhibited, while^ like them, we are bound 
to hold the means which God hath given to us, 
whatsoever they are, to their full extent, in trust, as 
faithful stewards of Him, and therefore to be ready 
always according to our ability to give for the relief 
of others' need ; — yet, that their example affords no 
countenance to the radical visionaries who dream 
that the Gospel was designed to subvert all social 
distinctions and establish a general intercommunity 
of possessions. Whether, even for a brief period in 
the special emergencies of the infant Church, there 
was such an intercommunity, we have seen to be 
extremely doubtful ; but even if that were the case, 
it was peculiar, arising from local and temporary 
circumstances, was entirely voluntary on the part of the 
members, and not continued or designed to be con- 
tinued beyond the emergency which then called for it. 
To these noble examples of Christian charity, 
the case in this chapter affords a dark and lament- 
able contrast. " A certain man, named Ananias, 
with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and 
kept back part of the price, (his wife also being 
privy to it,) and brought a certain part and laid it 
at the Apostles' feet." It is clear, that, in making 



I90 CHRISTIANITY IN DAIL V LIFE. 

this offering, these persons intended to convey the 
impression that they were contributing to the 
Apostolic treasury the whole price of the possession 
which they had sold. But the Apostle Peter by 
divine inspiration detected the hypocrisy, and 
immediately charged Ananias with the crime. 
" Why," said he, '' hath Satan filled thy heart, to lie 
to the Holy Ghost } While it remained, was it not 
thine own .'' and after it was sold, was it not in thine 
own power } why hast thou conceived this thing 
in thy heart } thou has not lied unto men, but 
unto God ! " Thereupon, it is recorded that, 
" Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave 
up the ghost." About three hours after the same 
terrible visitation of divine judgment fell upon 
Sapphira, his wife and partner in the sin. 

As this awful case has been put on record 
for our admonition, it is unquestionably entitled to 
our very serious consideration. What was the 
precise nature of the sin then committed } Why 
was it so suddenly and severely punished t And 
are we liable to the commission of it ? are questions 
which concern us all. 

In seeking to determine the precise nature of the 
sin, we must recognise clearly, in the first place, 
the fact that the whole transaction on the part of 



THE SIN OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 191 

Ananias and Sapphira was purely voluntary and 
done at their own option. They had land. It 
was their own ; they were under no obligation 
whatsoever to part with it. But they voluntarily 
consulted together and determined to sell it. They 
carried this determination into effect. Even then 
the money received for it was their own ; and they 
had a perfect right to use it as such for any lawful 
purpose whatever. All this is plain from the lan- 
guage of St. Peter : " While it remained, was it not 
thine own ? and after it was sold, was it not in 
thine own power } " The right of Ananias to this 
land and to the price for it is here distinctly admitted 
by the Apostle, nor does he intimate that there 
was any previous obligation to dispose of it in any 
particular way. 

The act was voluntary. Of his own free will 
he sold the land, received the price for it, and then, 
reserving a part, voluntarily, in entire freedom from 
any constraint or obligation imposed by others, 
brought the rest and laid it at the Apostles' feet 
for the relief of those in need. 

Was that a crime } Why, in the eye of the 
world, it was a noble act of generous benevolence. 
Yes, but there is One who seeth deeper than the 
world seeth ; and in His sight it was not only 



192 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

unworthy of praise, but deserved and received a 
terribly signal condemnation. The reason is this. 
It was not a true act, nor did it proceed from a 
true motive. 

It was not a true act. It was an attempt at 
gross deception. When Ananias brought the money, 
as other disciples did, and laid it at the Apostles' 
feet, there was a virtual, if not a verbal declaration 
on his part that he was thus making an offering of 
all the money that he had received. On the part 
of his wife, we know that a direct falsehood to this 
effect was told. 

Such an act, being false and deceitful in itself, 
no matter what the object or effect of it, could merit 
nothing but wrath from God who is holy and true. 
As the act was bad, so the motives prompting to 
it were bad also. Perhaps those who, in the season 
of special emergency, gave up all their possessions 
for the service of the Church, were entitled to receive 
a portion of its daily distributions. If so, Ananias 
and Sapphira, while retaining a considerable part 
of their possessions, might have expected to get 
remunerative interest on that which they gave up. 
Or, if there were no such management or consequent 
expectation, they might have looked for their reward 
in the degree of prominence and high estimation, 



THE SIN OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 193 

that such self-sacrificing benevolence would secure 
for them in the Church. In either case, the motive 
corresponded with the act : false in the sight of 
God, and looking only to the praise or reward of 
men. The divine judgment so speedily and terribly 
visited upon it, was, no doubt, one of those signal, 
monumental visitations, by which, in the beginning 
of a new dispensation, God has been wont to put 
His brand upon an act, so that, for all subsequent 
time, it may stand out as a warning ; and men may 
thus be in no danger of addicting themselves to a 
similar line of conduct, without the opportunity of 
knowing its abominableness in His sight. 

Therefore the question, whether we are in any 
liability to the commission of such a sin, is a ques- 
tion of very pressing and practical importance to us. 

We cannot consider this question carefully without 
perceiving reason for decided apprehensions on 
account of such liability. It is not, indeed, at all 
likely that the circumstantial emergencies of that 
primitive time can recur in this age ; nor is there 
any apparent probability that any of us will ever 
feel called upon to make, to any very appreciable 
extent, the sacrifice of selling houses and lands to 
use the price as an offering for the needs of the 
Church, But, in other circumstances and different 

13 



194 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

ways, there are numberless opportunities for the 
working of precisely the same spirit as that for 
which Ananias and Sapphira were so signally con- 
demned. Let it be well observed, that the real 
ground of their condemnation was the spirit of their 
deed. In itself, had it been true, it were a deed of 
charity ; but it was blackened by its principles. 

Can we say that there is no soil for the rooting 
of such principles in our hearts, no field for their 
growth and fruitage in the sphere of our life } Can 
we say that we are in no danger of wearing the 
garb of religion, or of speaking its language, or 
doing any of its works, with an eye to our social 
standing, to the favourable estimation and the com- 
plaisant regards of our associates ? Not to speak 
of the possibility of looking through this sort of 
advantage to the grosser result of material interest 
or profit, can we say that we are in no danger 
of hiding, under the religious possessions of our life 
or our apparent demeanour, some secret reservation 
of the heart ? Is there no possibility that we may 
give, and that consciously and intentionally, to the 
ministers and our fellow-members in the Church of 
Christ, an impression that we are doing, or will do, 
for the Church and for Christ, what at the same 
time, we in our secret hearts know well that we 



THE SIN OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA, 195 

neither do nor intend ? Is there no danger that 
even our deeds of unquestionable charity may yet 
be stained by sinister motives ; by looking for the 
praise of men, rather than, simply, at the glory of 
God? 

There can be no doubt of our need of watchfulness 
and careful self-examination in this direction. For 
it is probably but the simple truth to say that 
never before in the history of Christianity, have 
temptations to the sin of Ananias and Sapphira, and 
opportunities for it, been presenting themselves in so 
many ways, and in such subtle forms, as now. The 
liability arises not only from the fact that the pro- 
fession of religion is with us pre-eminently respect- 
able, a letter of credit to one who holds it, entitling 
to confidence and not unfrequently patronage and 
support ; but still more, from the special prominence 
which in both the Church and the world of our time, 
is accorded to benevolent enterprises and schemes, 
and the favourable estimation in which all are agreed 
to hold any who are distinguished for special 
efficiency, either in the way of personal effort or 
of liberal giving for the furtherance of charitable 
purposes. 

God forbid that any word of ours should have 
the eiTect to repress one impulse of charitable emula- 



196 ChJRlSTIANITY IN BAIL Y LIFE. 

tion that may have been awakened in any heart, 
or to give one jot of encouragement to that with- 
holding of effort or of giving, which comes of 
selfishness or covetousness ! but when the incentives 
to an interest in charitable schemes are so numerous, 
and when the material results of benevolent effort 
are so generally held in high estimation, it is surely 
not needless or superfluous to utter a word of warning 
against the danger of losing sight of the funda- 
mental importance of that simplicity of motive which 
is the mark of nothing but genuine charity — fervent 
love to God and pure love to man for God's sake : 
without which, charitable deeds, however fruitful in 
results, are but the semblance of virtue, and if done 
under the pretence of a religious service, are but a 
repetition of the sin for which Ananias and Sapphira 
were summarily condemned and signally punished. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
THE FAULT OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 



' ' Now his elder son was in the field : and as he came and drew nigh 
to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the 
servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him : 
Thy brother is come ; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because 
he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would 
not go in." — St. Luke xv. 25 — 28. 



'' I "HE story of the prodigal, his wandering, his 
repentance, return, and gracious reception by 
his father, was drawn from our T.ord by the proud 
murmurings of the scribes and Pharisees, because 
of His reception of publicans and sinners ; and there 
can be no question that their spirit and temper were 
intended to be portrayed in this conduct of the 
elder brother. 

It is not pleasant to turn from the contemplation 
of the paternal type of divine compassion and good- 
ness, to analyse such an example of unbrotherly 
churlishness ; and we are tempted, in studying the 
parable, to dismiss the consideration of him with 
only a general impression that in his inexcusable 
hardness he presented a fit type of the self-compla- 
cency and the heartless unsympathy for the erring 
and the poor, which plainly appear to have been 
marked characteristics of the scribes and Pharisees, 
against whose murmurings our Lord had repeated 
occasion to justify His beneficent compassion. 



200 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

A mere summary condemnation or exposure of 
them was, probably, very far from our Lord's 
intention in this part of the parable. 

It may justly be admitted, that the objections 
which they raised against His method of dealing 
with those who had been known as notorious sinners 
were not, at least from their point of view, entirely 
groundless or unreasonable. For the truth is, that 
there was a very noticeable peculiarity in our Lord's 
treatment of sinners : an important particular in 
which He seemed to hold the sinner in an entirely 
different relation from that which had been recognised 
in any prevously accepted ethical or religious system. 
This peculiarity was not the announcement of the 
possibility of the divine forgiveness, nor even of the 
readiness of God to pardon the penitent. For the 
Jews had always been familiar with such announce- 
ments clearly and repeatedly made in the Old 
Testament Scriptures. It was not that Christ was 
kind and considerate toward those who had fallen 
into sins and repented. Surely in that He could 
not have been peculiar. There have always, every- 
where, and among all people, thank God, been 
considerate men, kind men, merciful men, generous 
men : men and women who have known how to 
make due allowance for erring brothers and sisters. 



THE FAULT OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 201 

and who have been ready and glad to help them 
back into right doing, and to the recovery of self- 
respect, by sympathy and by endeavours of personal 
kindness. It would probably be unjust to the 
Jewish Pharisees, as a class, to deny that there may 
have been even among them some who were, in 
this way and to this extent, kind and considerate. 

This was not the peculiarity in our LordV^ \ 
treatment of publicans and sinners, at which they \ 
murmured. No, it was, in the language of the 
Evangelist, that " He ate and drank with them." 
That is. He put them on an equality with respectable 
people. He admitted them within the line of con- 
ventional and ceremonial distinctions ; He treated 
them as if He did not consider that they v»^ere 
defiled, that they had really no right to be admitted, 
but only came in on a merciful sufferance ; nay, 
more and worse than this, that He treated them 
with special favour^ and so seemed to make the fact 
that they had been great sinners, a reason for special 
glorification in their behalf He had stern words, 
severe words, for those who were walking uprightly 
and comforting themselves respectably ; and fervent 
exclamations of compassionate and affectionate 
regard for those who had disgraced themselves by ) 
living in open and notorious sin. ~~-^ 



202 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

The point of the objection, then, was not that 
God is compassionate, or that Jesus was kind, but 
that sin zvas encouraged^ that it was, in His system, 
apparently better to have lived ungodly than to 
have walked steadfastly in the path of righteousness, 
— better, in short, as an inspired Apostle afterwards 
put it, to have done evil, that in the salvation grace 
might abound. 

The parable was given in reply to their murmur- 
ing, and the case of the elder brother as well as of 
the prodigal carries on the argument. The prodigal 
is the lost child, for whom there is special watching 
and anxiety, and therefore, on the return, special 
rejoicing ; — as, in the two preceding parables, the 
owners of the lost sheep and the lost piece of 
silver were specially glad on recovering, because 
they had had occasion for special searching, and 
regret for, what they had lost. So the Saviour's 
treatment of penitent sinners, and through Him 
the divine goodness, was vindicated as being in 
clear analogy with — nay, rather as being itself the 
type of, that which is unquestionably natural and 
commendable in human conduct ; which is, indeed, 
prompted by the best instincts of human affection 
and sanctioned by the truest impulses of human 
love. 



THE FAULT OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 203 

In contrast with all this, we have presented 
to us the spirit and conduct of the elder brother. 
It is a hard, sharp contrast. Yet, even in drawing 
this portrait, the loving Saviour drew with no hard 
or sharp lines ; and we should miss the import of 
this part of the parable sadly, if we should omit 
to take into account the concessions which are 
clearly, though but briefly and implicitly, made to the 
fairness of the claim that he held in his conscious- 
ness of superiority, in certain points, both of 
position and character. It is true, unquestionably, 
that the elder brother had observed the proprieties 
and met the obligations of the filial relationship 
with a degree of steadfastness that put to shame 
the irregularities of the prodigal. He had fallen 
into no alienation either of heart or of life. He 
had been guilty of no determined or conscious 
rejection of his father's paternal prerogatives. He 
had never wished to break up the homestead, nor 
looked with grudging eye on the common sharing 
of his father's goods. Steadfastly, constantly, week 
after week, month after month, year after year, he 
had kept himself in true filial allegiance : meeting 
fairly the obligations, and discharging, on the whole, 
satisfactorily, the duties of a son in his father's 
house. 



204 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

Was not this better than the career of the 
prodigal ? 

Most unquestionably better ; incomparably better. 
And the parable clearly admits it — " Son, thou 
art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." 
Here is a full recognition of the superiority and 
the advantage of a life of steadfast obedience. 
Think of the wickedness, the recklessness, and the 
wretchedness that had been avoided, and you will 
see it. And, most certainly, as in the parable, 
so in actual life, there are, not the wicked only, but 
the righteous also, — that is, there are those who 
have served God steadfastly, and on the whole 
consistently, from their youth up, never having 
turned aside into the ways of wilful or intentional 
disobedience, nor had any of the wretched ex- 
perience of abandoned wickedness. " There is 
none good, no, not one," in the sense of perfectness, 
or of goodness, that may claim to be meritorious ; 
but in every generation there are those of whom 
it may be said, that they are " righteous before 
God, walking in all the commandments and ordi- 
nances of the Lord, blameless." Let no one 
suppose that the Gospel of Christ refuses to 
recognise such favoured ones or declines to give 
them its countenance. The Saviour's earthly life 



THE FAULT OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 205 

would not be the model and universal Example, 
if it were not possible for the redeemed and 
regenerated children of God to grow from their 
infancy, as He grew, " in wisdom and in stature," 
and in steadily increasing " favour with God and 
man." This is the normal Christian life : its 
legitimate development, and that which should be 
generally looked for as the regular result of infant 
baptism and Christian training. Most unquestion- 
ably, a life so ordered is infinitely preferable to a 
life of abandoned sinfulness. It is not only 
exempt from all the ruinous waste and all the 
consequent wretchedness of the prodigal's career, 
but, what is a still higher advantage, it saves the 
character from the terrible deterioration, enslave- 
ment, and defilement, into which the prodigal 
inevitably falls, and by the chains of which he is 
almost hopelessly tied and bound. 

It is the greatest possible mistake to suppose 
that the conditions of this Christian ideal Hfe are 
fulfilled by mere superficial smoothness and propriety, 
or even by such a degree of general conscientious- 
ness, such a regard for one's obligations and one's 
best interests, as will suffice for the maintenance 
of a respectable and quite becomingly proper deport- 
ment. Just this was the radical defect in the character 



2o6 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

of the elder brother, as it is presented here in the 
portrait drawn by the Saviour. It is very clear 
that, notwithstanding the apparent consistency with 
which he had for many years maintained the position 
of a son, he knew little of the spirit of sonship. 
Even in his own plea for himself, and in the heat of 
self-exaltation, he could put his lifelong obedience 
to his father on no higher ground than that of 
servitude. " Lo, these many years do I serve thee, 
neither transgressed I at any time thy command- 
ment." Ah ! that was precisely the difficulty. He 
had been serving all those years ; in the position, 
but really losing sight, of the true relation of a son, 
without the trustful and grateful love which is 
the only true inspiration of filial obedience. What 
wonder then, if now that a true apprehension of the 
fraternal relation came to be demanded of him, he 
signally and sadly failed t How could he be a 
-loving brother, if he were not a loving son } Failing 
in the very first principle of the filial relationship, 
how was it possible for him to welcome back an 
erring brother, as a brother, or to appreciate with 
the least real sympathy the loving father's joy on 
receiving the wanderer back again into the home } 

So his case, not less than that of the prodigal, 
stands for our warning ; and the parable ends as it 



THE FAULT OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 207 

began, with this great truth, that the relation of son- 
ship is the only true relation to our heavenly Father, 
and the loving spirit of sonship the only principle 
of true obedience. 

In either one of two ways we may be derelict to 
this relation : like the prodigal, by a conscious and 
intentional alienation of heart and abandonment of 
life ; or, not less surely and effectually, by a life of 
mere smooth propriety, the decorum of which is 
determined by no loving devotion, but only by the 
favouring influences of the Providential allotment, 
or by a regard for one's best interests, or even by a 
general sense of obligation. 

If any of us be at a loss to determine whether or 
no there be in our own heart this radical defect, we 
can hardly find a truer test than in an honest con- 
sideration of the question, whether we have, or lack, 
the yearning interest of real brotherly sympathy in 
endeavours for the reclamation of the erring and the 
salvation of the lost 1 Let us be specially careful 
not to mistake for this brotherly sympathy the 
patronising kindness which is very apt to be made its 
substitute. The elder brother in the parable would, 
no doubt, have very readily admitted his fallen 
brother's claims to this sort of kindness. There is 
no reason to suppose that he would not have been 



2o8 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

quite willing to have the prodigal taken home again 
and put to work, and even treated with considerate 
kindness. Nothing in his conduct or complaint 
implies that he would not himself have been willing 
so to treat him. But the objection on his part was, 
that in honouring the prodigal's return with a feast, 
his past career of wickedness seemed to be altogether 
forgotten, and he was admitted at once to a place 
in the household of entire equality with the elder 
son who had never been guilty of filial disobedience, 
and even, for the moment, had apparent precedence 
in the father's regards. 

Even so, it is easy for any of us to extend a 
patronising forgiveness, and even patronising kind- 
ness, to the erring and unfortunate. Such kindness 
is always understood to imply on the part of him 
who receives it a recognition of the decided superior- 
ity of his benefactor ; and it gratifies our pride and 
satisfies our sense of self-importance to occupy this 
relation. The pleasure is heightened if, at the same 
time, v/e have the satisfactory consciousness of doing 
deeds of charity. Therefore it is easy for any of us 
to give our erring brother this grace. But to 
recognise him as, in the fullest sense of the word, 
ojir brother^ and treat him and love him as such, 
as not only, with us and others, one of the children 



THE FAULT OF THE ELDER BROTHER. 209 

of our Father, but in the truest possible sense our 
own kith and kin, — that is not so easy, nor by any 
means so common. Yet it is precisely what Christ 
exemplified, and is really requisite both for imitating 
Him and for reclaiming the lost. The life of sin is, 
in its various degrees down to the lowest, a career, not 
only of error, but also of abandonment. Every step 
and every act involves a loss of self-respect, and of a 
rightful claim to the confidence of others ; and there 
can be no permanent restoration till the hold upon 
trusty which has been weakened and broken, is 
regained. If the wanderer is to become again an 
obedient and loving son, his Father's house must be 
to him a home, not a prison, and every brother must 
concur with the father in freeing him, as soon as 
possible, from the feeling that he could even be 
there in any sense a servant, or, in any degree, less 
than a son. No measure or degree of patronising 
kindness, nothing but the sympathy of a genuine 
brotherly interest, will suffice for this ; and the one 
perfect example, in this respect as in all others, is 
that of Him who has proved Himself to be the 
true Elder Brother in that He humbled Himself to 
the form of a servant that He might restore to us, 
the erring children of His Father, the adoption of 
sons. 

14 



CHAPTER XV. 

T51E FAULT OF THE MAN WITH ONE 
TALENT. 



"Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, 
I knew thee, that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not 
sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed ; and I was afraid, 
and went and hid thy talent in the earth ; lo, there thou hast that is 
thine." — St. Matthew xxv. 24, 25. 



/^F course, he went and hid it. What else 
^~^^ could he have done with it, having such an 
estimation as he had of the character of the master 
from whom he had received the trust ? For, observe, 
this is the point on which the contrast between him 
and the others who are represented in the parable 
as entrusted with talents, chiefly turns. It is not so 
much in the fact that to these others more was 
given — to one, ten talents, to another five, while he 
had only one — though that point has its own special 
lesson. But it is the difference in the temper and 
spirit of the men who received the several trusts. 
Those who received ten and five were alike in this, 
they took the sum in their hands to be simply a 
trust for investment and use. They carefully 
accepted it as such, and made it their business, 
their life work, to serve the master's interest in 
their dealing with it. So they were alike in their 
conduct, each putting his particular trust to the 
best and most profitable use. So they were alike 
in the effective result : each being able to return to 



214 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

the master a double capital ; and alike in their 
reward with his commendation and blessing. But 
the man entrusted with the one talent was of an 
entirely different spirit. He not only had a small 
capacity, which, we are warranted in supposing, was 
duly considered by the master in the amount of 
his trust ; but the specially noteworthy point is that 
he had no delight, took no interested satisfaction, in 
the service which was the real purpose of the trust. 
He counted his master a hard man, one who would 
hold him to a merciless account for any possible 
mistake, and exact from him everything that the 
law would allow to be due. With such an opinion 
and feeling, what could he do ? He could not 
invest the talent or use it in any kind of business, 
because there was an unquestionable possibility that 
the investment might result in a shrinkage instead 
of profit, and the business might prove a failure. 
With his want of heart in it, he could hardly have 
looked for any other result. Therefore the con- 
clusion was most natural that the best policy was, 
simply to keep on the safe side ; and do with the 
talent only just what was absolutely necessary to 
keep it, so that he could not be charged with 
dishonesty when the master should demand his 
final account. 



THE MAN WITH ONE TALENT. 215 

This was the reason why he went and buried it. 
Taking this as the point of the parable which 
is specially noteworthy for our consideration, we 
think there is reason to feel that it touches in 
religion — in the way that we hold and aim to 
discharge our responsibilities before God— a fault 
which is so common, that it may almost be said 
to have become a very generally accepted charac- 
teristic of the religious life, in our time. 

This man was in the place of a trusted servant, 
and he held fast to that relation : but he did not 
serve. He made it his aim simply to escape con- 
demnation for downright dishonesty in the end ; 
but did no work for the master's interest, brought 
no gain into his treasury. The reason was because 
he had no loving regard for the master and took 
no delight in doing his will. 

Now, in considering the present application of 
this illustration, for our own instruction, let us 
begin by trying to fix in our minds clearly and 
distinctly this fundamental truth : that, according to 
the teaching of our Saviour in this parable and, we 
may add, in all His other recorded discourses, our 
life in this world, with all its endowments of what- 
ever sort or value, is for every one of us simply a 
trust committed to us by our Maker for His service. 



2l6 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

This is the radical significance of that peculiar 
phrase with which our Lord began His parables 
almost without exception — " The kingdom of God," 
or, " of Heaven, is like." For clearly, the idea here 
is that the relation which it was His purpose to get 
men to recognise is that of life, not only or chiefly 
hereafter, but, fundamentally, now and here — of life 
in this world — to God the Almighty Sovereign^ 
The sin of the world was its forgetfulness of this 
relation. Mankind here had become for the most 
part in bondage to their bodily senses. The life 
that now is had come to be estimated as the be-all 
and end-all of existence ; and men in general had 
got into the habit of thinking and acting as if, while- 
here, they were their own, and held a fee simple 
title to whatever share of the world's goods they 
could get into their possession. It was in direct 
contradiction of this erroneous notion, and for its 
correction, that our Lord kept constantly before 
His hearers the assertion of God's sovereignty in the 
world. He never allowed it to be forgotten that 
the world is not an outlying, self-existent fragment, 
but a legitimately constituted and sustained com- 
ponent, of the divine universe ; and that it, with 
everything that is or that can possibly be in it, 
belongs to Almighty God. Therefore, He called 



THE MAN WITH ONE TALENT. 2\^ 

upon men to recognise this relation and hold them- 
selves to its responsibilities. He taught that to live 
rightly here men must understand and feel that this 
world is a province of the kingdom of God ; that in 
it they are His creatures, and, having as such been 
made with intelligence for His service, that just this 
is their proper function — to do Him service, to use 
for this purpose and to this end whatsoever of the 
world's goods they may have, and thus prove their 
title to the divine commendation and the rewards 
of a heavenly existence when the life of this 
world shall have reached its close. This principle 
being recognised as fundamental, it follows that 
religion, as Christ inculcated it, is simply a consistent 
allegiance to this relation. The root meaning of 
the word " religion " implies this ; signifying, as it 
does, a due regard for God ; but our Lord may be 
said almost to have made it His special purpose to 
bring it out so clearly, and illustrate it so fully, that 
mistake or forgetfulness on the point might thereafter 
be inexcusable. 

Let us here observe, that religion, as thus defined 
and illustrated, includes the whole of life. It is not 
a mere technicality — moving only in the domain of 
sentiment, and finding its expression in nothing but 
formal ceremonies — but it goes down to the very 



2i8 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

foundation, and determines the real character and 
purpose of our being, taking in all that we have 
and are. The question which it proposes to us is, 
whether or no we believe ourselves to be creatures of 
God, and admit, as a fact, that this world in which 
we are living is His world ? With the positive 
determination of this question, it calls upon us for 
simple consistency in recognising our divine rela- 
tionship, and for integrity in fulfilling its obligations. 
" The kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into 
a far country, who called his own servants and 
delivered unto them his goods." We are, every one, 
in that kingdom, all subjects and servants of Him 
who is the Sovereign King. Whatsoever we have 
in life, is not, and cannot be, ours, but His ; and we 
have it but to use, to use for Him, in His service 
and for the promotion of His interests. Very plainly, 
then, it follows that this service is, and should be 
felt to be, the real business of our life, and that we 
should give ourselves to it as the aim, as well as the 
end, of our being. There is nothing which we can 
rightly hold back ; no enterprise in which we can 
engage, or effort that we can put forth, in any de- 
partment of life, without reference, or not at least 
without ultimate subserviency, to this purpose. 

This brings us back directly to that which we 



THE MAN WITH ONE TALENT. 219 

noted in the outset as the point of the parable — viz., 
the spirit and temper with which our service unto 
God is to be performed. The recognition of our 
dependent relationship toward Him is something ; 
the admission of our obligation to serve Him with 
what we have and are is more ; but it is obvious 
that there may be both of these, without any heart 
for His interests. If there be this defect in us, it 
is radical ; and its effect in our case cannot be any 
better than it was in that of the man with one 
talent, in the parable. In his very admission of his 
master's ownership of the talent, and his sense of 
obligation in holding it, he was paralysed, because 
he felt he was holding for a hard master, in whose 
service there was no satisfaction, and from whom 
there could be expected nothing but rigorous exac- 
tion in the final reckoning. He was not, let it be 
observed, in any sense insincere or dishonest. He 
did not violate his trust by any taint of fraud ; did 
not misappropriate it for covetous speculation ; did 
not squander, or even use, it for his own gratification. 
He simply lacked heart to use it for precisely the 
purpose, and in the service, for which it had been 
given ; and therefore did nothing but bury it in the 
earth for safe keeping. 

Is it not obvious that we may likewise admit that 



220 CHRISTIANITY IN BAIL V LIFE 

we are not our own, that whatsoever we have and 
are is of God, and therefore that we are under in- 
evitable obligations to serve Him with all that we 
have and are, — is it not obvious that we may be 
sensible of this, and honest in intending to hold 
ourselves to the responsibility, and yet, like him, 
have within us such a spirit and temper as will 
incite us to do nothing for God, and aim at nothing 
but a final escape from His condemnation ? Is it 
not evident that want of a true, loving regard for 
God, and the lack of any genuine and hearty satis- 
faction in His service, must have this effect in us ? 
must inevitably paralyse our will and unnerve our 
disposition to work for His interests and make our 
life, in any truly effective sense, subservient to His 
glory ? 

Are we not touching here a very common fault ? 
Is it not with reason that we have intimated an 
apprehension that it may be almost a characteristic 
fault of the religion of our time ? May there not 
be reason for an honest consideration of our own 
exemplification of religion, to see if it may not pos- 
sibly be vitiated by this fault ? If our religion be a 
mere technicality instead of the bond of allegiance 
to God in our entire life, — if we admit the obligation 
to serve Him, simply because we feel our relation to 



THE MAN WITH ONE TALENT. 221 

Him to be that of a bond-servant and dare not 
repudiate it ; if, at the same time, there be in our 
heart no loving devotion to Him, no genuine satis- 
faction in doing the work of our life as work for 
Him, in His service and to His glory,- — if our aim be 
just to escape from His condemnation and save our 
soul from consignment, by His wrath, to everlasting 
perdition, — why, how does our case differ from that 
of this unprofitable servant in the parable ? Is it not 
clear that we feel, in relation to our divine Master, 
just precisely as he felt towards his ? We think of 
Him, as he did, only as One who is hard and 
exacting : we are, as he was, afraid ; and so our very 
recognition of His Mastership, and our admission of 
obligation to Him to be His servant, can have in our 
case, as in his, only the effect of paralysing us from 
any effective service, and can lead to no other resolu- 
tion than just to keep on the safe side, and avoid 
final and fatal loss. 

His final sentence shows, that not even an earthly 
master could accept in the end the profitless result 
of such heartless service ; and much less is it likely 
to be accepted in His sight, who discerneth the 
thoughts and intents of the heart, and hath no 
pleasure in any offering which is not that of a 
willing and loving mind. Even if there might be a 



222 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

hope of escaping this final issue, the present point 
is, that rehgion which is inspired by no better spirit 
or higher motive must, inevitably, be profitless and 
worthless. The heartlessness of its professing ad- 
herent both robs him of satisfying interest in doing 
what is confessed to be duty, and puts the brand of 
worthlessness upon even that which he does. 

If there be any reason to suspect the taint of 
such a mistake in our own case, let us pray God to 
help us, not only to discover, but also to correct it. 
The true corrective is in a thorough consecration of 
our hearts, with all their affections, to God's service ; 
to think of Him ever as, what He is in truth, our 
All-merciful and tenderly loving Father, as well as 
our Almighty and Sovereign Creator ; to know and 
feel that, as He made us for Himself, our truest 
happiness and best welfare and highest destiny must 
be found in living for Him. 

Religion will then be to us, not a mere saving 
technicality of our life, but the hallowing spirit of 
our whole life ; and, in hallowing, it will inspire our 
whole life with grateful and satisfying cheer. What- 
ever may be our earthly lot, we shall count it as of 
divine appointment; and whatsoever its endowments, 
be they of much or but little, we shall hold them 
as divinely granted trusts to be used in the service 



THE MAN WITH ONE TALENT. 223 

of the Master whose we are, and to whose interests 
we are lovingly devoted. So, we shall carry our 
religion into every department and phase of our 
being. Everywhere it will be congruous : in all 
experience, a well-spring of satisfaction and delight. 
It will have, indeed, its own special devotional and 
sacramental functions, which will be thought of and 
participated in both as duties and enjoyments ; but 
its spirit will never leave us, nor be found to want 
inspiring motive or sustaining cheer in any relation, 
or any possible circumstance, of our life. 

This is, for every one of us, our true life. This 
is the true exemplification of Christianity ; this is 
the true realisation of its purpose as the religion of 
humanity ; and this is the true way to its promised 
salvation in the life eternal. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

CHRIST S OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH. 



15 



" And it came to pass, as He went into the house of one of the 
chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day, that they watched 
Him." — St. Luke xiv. i. 



'nr^HE purpose for which the enemies of our Lord 
were watching Him on this occasion plainly 
was, to see if He would not say or do something 
in violation of their traditionary rules for keeping 
the Sabbath day. It is very evident from the 
Gospels that this was a point on which our Lord's 
conduct, from the beginning of His public ministry, 
was especially offensive to the Jewish leaders. He 
seemed almost to take pains to show that He had 
no respect for their accepted and cherished scruples 
as to what might, or might not, be done on the 
Sabbath. At the outset of His ministry His dis- 
ciples were allowed to gather food for themselves 
on the Sabbath, in a way which was positively 
forbidden by the technical rules ; and their conduct 
was not only defended and fully justified by Him 
against the Pharisaic accusers, but these scrupulous 
accusers were also plainly turned upon with the 
charge, that they had forgotten the scripture which 
saith, " I will have mercy, and not sacrifice," and 



228 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

explicitly told that " the Son of man is Lord even 
of the Sabbath day." After this, He repeatedly 
did beneficent work in the synagogues and other 
public places on the Sabbath ; and, when accused 
or questioned, He never yielded in the least to 
the current theories of Sabbath observance, but 
unhesitatingly contradicted them in justifying His 
acts. 

So this was one of the points wherein they found 
fault with Him, and from almost the beginning of 
His ministry they were on the watch for additional 
evidence in this count of their intended indictment 
of Him as a breaker of the law. 

It must not, however, be concluded that our Lord 
was, in any true sense, a violator of the Sabbath. 
In this respect, as in all others. He was under the 
law and perfectly obedient to the law. We may be 
sure that whatever the law did prescribe, in its 
proper construction or whatever was conducive to 
its pious observance, was never on any occasion, 
much less habitually, disregarded or neglected by 
Him. There is in the Gospel narrative the clearest 
evidence that, throughout His life from ver}- child- 
hood, He was ever known as scrupulously regular 
in His attendance at the stated times of the Sabbath 
synagogue service ; and so, that He was habitually 



CHRIST'S OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH. 229 



observant of the sanctity of the Sabbath as the day 
of holy worship and instruction. Mention of this, 
as His custom, occurs as one of the first points 
noted in the Gospel history. For instance, St. Luke 
tells us that, when He returned to Nazareth after 
His temptation in the wilderness, He went, " as His 
custom was^ into the synagogue on the Sabbath 
day, and stood up for to read." Again and again 
throughout the Gospel of this Evangelist, as well 
as of those of the others, there are like notices which 
serve to show clearly that, wherever He might be. 
His habit was uniform on all Sabbath days to go 
to the synagogue and join heartily and devoutly in 
its stated appointments of worship and religious 
instruction. We must take into due account both 
of these two sides of our Lord's conduct in relation 
to the Sabbath, to get the true explanation of His 
attitude and intended example. 

It is clear, on the one hand, that He purposely 
contravened, to show unmistakably His disappro- 
bation of, the current Jewish superstition. 

Under the traditional teaching of the Rabbins, 
the fourth commandment had become, in our Lord's 
time, to the whole Jewish nation, a yoke of bondage. 
They had learned to construe it, not as it is in truth, 
a provision of mercy to keep man above a slavish 



230 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

bondage to the life of this world, but as a rigorous 
rule of sheer religious formalism. Consequently its 
observance was hedged in by countless regulations 
that had no authority in the divine enactment, but 
were grounded only in the casuistical distinctions 
and nice definitions of the Rabbinical commentators. 
Some of these prohibitions are so arbitrary, and at 
the same time so absurd, as to seem hardly credible. 
For instance, it was determined to be unlawful to 
catch an insect on the Sabbath, unless at the very 
moment the hurt of its sting was felt ; or to climb 
into a tree for any purpose, lest a branch or twig 
should be broken ; and if one's companion fell into 
a pit on the Sabbath he could only have needful 
nourishment thrown to him, but could not be rescued 
till the next day. These are extreme illustrations 
of their superstition ; but they show how puerile, 
and at the same time how grievous in its bondage, 
this superstition was. 

Against this our Lord set His face, and both 
in His teachings and conduct brought out the 
truth that the Sabbath was made for man, not man 
for the Sabbath ; that the sanctification of the day 
was for a real need in man's nature and for witness- 
ing to his higher relations and destiny, not to put 
him under the bondage of religious formalism ; and, 



CHRIST'S OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH 231 

therefore, that the reason for even its religious 
observance was not in the letter of the enactment, 
but in the nature of man and his essential relation- 
ship to the spiritual world. 

His purpose seems clearly to have been the 
correction of the superstitious error, and the restora- 
tion of a true sense of the original meaning and 
use for which the observance of the Sabbath day- 
had been divinely commanded. Therefore, He 
was, as we have seen, equally careful to observe, 
habitually and regularly, the stated appointments, 
both of time and place, by which the consecration 
of the Sabbath to its true purpose of religious 
worship and instruction was maintained and pre- 
served. 

It is unquestionably true that to our Lord's 
treatment of the Sabbath is traceable the beginning 
of the change in its observance which, as we know, 
came with the introduction of Christianity. The 
first disciples, who gathered their supply of food on 
that day, by plucking corn in the field, must already 
have been emancipated by His teaching from much 
of their old superstition ; and a true sense of the 
legitimate application of Christian freedom in this 
respect must have been not only awakened, but 
firmly fixed, in the mind of the Church, by the 



232 CHRISTIANITY IN BAIL Y LIFE. 

example to the same effect, which was constantly 
set by our Lord throughout His personal ministry. 
So, it is not surprising, that after His resurrection 
from the dead, the Church was prepared to under- 
stand that the essence of Sabbath sanctity consisted 
not in the special sacredness of that which they 
had been accustomed to call the seventh day of the 
week, and very soon began to feel that the first day 
had received from His resurrection a sanction of 
appropriateness for the great Christian feast, which 
might justly entitle it to take the place, in Christian 
observance, of the day which had been hallowed by 
the tradition of a finished creation. 

It is not surprising that, consequent upon this 
change, many other changes have come over the 
observance of the day of consecrated rest, in 
Christendom, so that it has become a fair question, 
and entitled to be treated as such in Christian 
discussion, whether there is now any proper identi- 
fication of the new with the old ; and if there be 
in any respect, how far either the injunctions or 
the prohibitions of the fourth commandment have 
legitimate application to the day which is now 
observed. 

It is not easy to reach a perfectly clear and 
indubitable solution of this question ; and Christian 



CHRIST'S OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH. 233 

history affords many illustrations, both of difficulties 
involved in its discussion, and of practical dangers 
consequent upon an unqualified decision on one side 
or the other. But, so far as a decision is necessary 
for the determination of one's personal conduct as a 
Christian, there are certain conclusions which may 
be considered as settled, at least in the Church. A 
brief statement of these may fitly bring our present 
consideration of the subject to a close. 

First, then, we must remember, and clearly 
recognise the fact, that the Fourth Commandment 
is one of the Ten Commandments ; and, therefore, 
included in, not the ceremonial, but the moral 
law ; and that, as such, it must be, in some sense^ 
of universal and perpetual force. If this might 
be deemed questionable anywhere in Christendom, 
it certainly cannot be in any Church whose Liturgy 
is that of the Book of Common Prayer ; for here 
the rubrical order for the reading of the Ten Com- 
mandments by the priest, before the altar, on every 
Lord's day, plainly determines the judgment of 
this Church to be, that the Fourth Commandment 
is to be received, in common with the others, as 
the moral law, and held to be obligatory as such. 

In determining the legitimate application of the 
command to our own conduct, we have the example 



234 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

of Christ and His apostolic followers ; and under 
this guidance we seem authorised to conclude that 
the specification, in the commandment, of the 
seventh day, was not intended to fix an arbitrary 
sanctity on the day which happened in the Jewish 
calendar to be counted as the seventh day of the 
week ; but, rather, to set apart one day in seven 
for sanctified rest and divine worship, and to teach 
mankind that the Creator, in giving to the world 
the use of time for its work, had reserved this 
portion for the special recognition of their relation 
to Him and to the life eternal. 

Then, as to the particular day which ought to be 
observed by us. We have simply to walk after the 
rule of the whole Christian Church from the begin- 
ning, in esteeming the day of our Lord's resurrec- 
tion as determined by that crowning miracle to be 
most appropriate. 

Having these two points clearly determined, we 
may safely look to our Lord's example and teaching 
for a determination, so far at least as is necessary 
in ordering personal conduct, of questions which are 
likely, from time to time, to rise as to the proper 
observance of the holy day. 

Very clearly, its principal part is properly appro- 
priated to the worship of Almighty God, the 



CHRIST'S OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH. 235 

devoutly thankful celebration of the Eucharistic 
Feast, and the religious instruction of the sanctuary. 
This means its principal part ; not merely a half- 
hour in the early morning or late hour in the 
evening, — for this is, simply, substituting a trifling 
pretence for the principal purpose of the con- 
secrated day. With such appropriation, it is also 
to be remembered that the whole day is, in some 
special sense, time that is consecrated. It is the 
portion of time which God has reserved as His 
own. Six days He allows us for the work of the 
world ; the seventh is for that which is not of this 
world, but for that which has direct relation to Him, 
and for the special exercise and refreshment of that 
part of our nature which is spiritual and immortal. 
It does not exclude any work of real necessity ; for 
such work is liable at any time and on any day to 
be essential, for self-preservation and for continuing 
the welfare of life ; and it was clearly sanctioned by 
the Saviour's permitting His disciples to gather food 
on the Sabbath for the supply of the day's need of 
nutriment. Nor does it exclude works of bene- 
ficence ; for these are, when rightly done, always in 
a true sense acts of worship, since they are merci- 
fully counted as service rendered unto the Lord, 
and were directly sanctioned by many recorded 



236 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

miracles of the Saviour on the Sabbath day. Nor, 
again, does it exclude, after the due observance of 
its principal portion in holy worship, such rest 
and even recreation as may not be inconsistent with 
our divine relationship, and may give thankful cheer 
for the more healthful and buoyant discharge of 
all the responsibilities of life. There is no licence 
here for godless amusement, or for indulgence in 
that which has no higher aim or purpose than the 
entertainment of sheer frivolity : but an honest con- 
science may safely remember with thankfulness, that 
it is distinctly recorded in the Gospels that even 
the Saviour Himself, after the close of the syna- 
gogue service, did not refuse to accept an invitation 
to dine with one of the chief Pharisees on the 
Sabbath day. 

The conclusion of the whole matter seems to be 
summed up most truly in the Saviour's words : 
" The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the 
Sabbath." The command for its observance was 
not given to put mankind under a yoke of bondage 
— not even of religious bondage — but as a merciful 
privilege of divine beneficence ; and its true purpose 
is to keep alive in us, while we have our life in this 
world, a sense of our relationship to that world 
which is eternal. It comes in with periodic regu- 



CHRIST'S OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH. 237 

larity to give us needful rest, and so save us from 
slavish thraldom to the work of the world. It calls 
us to the special observance and enjoyment of 
religious offices, and so raises us above the world 
and brings us into direct communion with Him who 
is the Father of spirits, and with the spiritual 
ministers of His heavenly temple. It brings to us 
needful refreshment for all our faculties, and special 
increments of spiritual strength, to lift us steadily 
upwards, and make the real aim and end of even 
this temporal existence our most fitting preparation 
for that heavenly world which is to be our final and 
eternal home. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

CHRIST IN SOCIETY. 



* ' And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eat with publicans 
and sinners, they said unto His disciples : How is it that He eateth 
and drinketh with publicans and sinners ?" — St. Mark ii, i6. 



JESUS, having recently called Levi or Matthew 
to be His disciple, is invited to be the guest of 
this new follower ; and, the invitation being accepted, 
a number of Matthew's friends are also invited to 
meet Him at a social meal. The previous occupa- 
tion of Matthew — that of a publican or Roman tax- 
collector — had brought him into business and social 
relations with many of both the higher and lower 
grades of society ; and, accordingly, we find at this 
entertainment that scribes and Pharisees and also 
publicans and sinners are present. The former, 
priding themselves on both their respectability and 
piety, are very careful to let it be seen clearly that 
the latter, though present, are not permitted to 
associate with them. Matthew was probably superior 
to his class in an honest reputation, and perhaps in 
other respects, and this may account for the Phari- 
sees' acceptance of his invitation. But they could 
not for a moment allow their patronage of him, 
or their particular respect for him, to compromise 

i6 



242 CHRISTIANITY IN DAIL V LIFE, 

in the leas: their social and ecclesiastical position. 
Accordingly they occupied " the chief rooms " in 
the feast by themselves, and left the publicans and 
sinners to eat in lower places by themselves. 

Jesus, strange to say, took His place without 
either affectation of condescension or assumption of 
superiorit}', in the midst of this disreputable class, 
and eat and conversed with them. 

This excited the astonishment, and even, as we 
can easily imagine, the horror of the Pharisees, and 
they put to the disciples of Christ the question, 
•* How is it that He eateth and drinketh ^-ith 
publicans and sinners ? " 

The question, in their minds, may have referred 
chiefly to the want of regard for ceremonial purity 
which such association on the part of Christ seemed 
to evince, — ^just as, on another occasion, they were 
offended because He eat with unwashed hands : 
but it may have a much deeper meaning It may 
look to the apparent inconsistency, not ceremonial 
only but real and essential, between the claims of 
Christ both as to His own nature and the character 
of His religion, with such common and familiar 
intercourse among all classes of people and such 
participation in the common enjoyments of life. 
The question, then, " /lozu is it ? " may be equivalent 



CHRIST IN SOCIETY, 243 

to asking, On what principles, and for what reasons, 
He allowed Himself the indulgence of such common 
intercourse ? 

This question is one most worthy of consideration, 
and important to be rightly understood. There is 
no characteristic of Christ, no feature of His earthly 
life, that is so prominently brought forward, and so 
much insisted upon by many in our day, as this. 
It would seem almost as if it were considered one 
of the discoveries of the age that Christ did actually 
eat with publicans and sinners, that He was a 
person of social sympathies and habits, not living 
as an ascetic apart from the common life of humanity, 
but participating in all its common intercourses, 
drawing to Himself every human being, and pouring 
His heart into every human joy and woe. Ac- 
cordingly we hear much said of the genial and .social 
character of His religion. Indeed, this feature is 
seemingly getting to be considered the most valuable 
characteristic of the Christian revelation, to be that 
which really makes it a Gospel — a revelation of 
good tidings to men. So it is thought to be one of 
the leading duties of Christians, and particularly 
of Christian ministers, to promote sociability, to 
bring people together and show them how to enjoy 
life and be happy. Perhaps it is not exaggerating 



244 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

to say that many persons have really no higher 
conception of the Christian Church than as an 
association for this purpose, and no appreciation of 
its ministrations except as they seem to conduce 
to this result. 

Such persons have a decided impression that 
Christ made it a principal aim of His life, and 
leading purpose of His ministry, to promote festive 
sociability : that He adapted Himself to all classes 
of people by complying facilely with all their ways 
and customs ; that He eat with publicans and 
sinners, or with any others, to render Himself 
acceptable to them, and to show them that He had 
no objection to such festive indulgences, but on the 
contrary, wished to mark them with His special 
approbation. 

Before we are warranted in formulating or holding 
any theory of religion which is based on the life and 
teachings of Christ, it is obviously necessary to learn 
from the inspired record exactly what His example 
and precepts touching the point were. We propose 
to take up in their order, as recorded, the several 
occasions of social hospitality in which Christ is 
represented as participating, and to note His conduct 
in them, that we may ascertain the principles by 
which it was really actuated. 



CHRIST IN SOCIETY. 245 

I. The first occasion, of this sort, was the 
marriage feast in Cana of Galilee, recorded in the 
Gospel by St. John, chapter ii. The Evangelist tells 
us, " there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and 
the mother of Jesus was there, and both Jesus was 
called and His disciples to the marriage." He 
was then just about to enter upon His public 
ministry ; and the disciples here spoken of were 
the first five or six whom He had chosen. The 
invitation was accepted ; and there is nothing in the 
Gospel narrative which requires or authorises the 
supposition that the feast was conducted any other- 
wise than as such feasts were commonly conducted, 
in that country then and now. Nor is there anything 
to warrant the supposition that Jesus, being present, 
manifested disapprobation of the festivities, or put 
any irksome restraint on those who engaged in 
them. On the contrary, it is expressly recorded, 
that when they wanted wine, He worked a miracle 
to supply the want. This must certainly be con- 
ceded ; and there are very cheering lessons to be 
learned from it. But, at the same time, is it 
possible for any of us to read the narrative, without 
feeling that Christ is there represented as being, in 
some mysterious sense, separate, sacredly separate, 
from the company in which He was bodily present ; 



246 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

or, at any rate, most sacredly separate from any 
indulgence in unseemly levity or licentious hilarity ? 
The application of His mother to Him when they 
wanted wine ; His reply, stern, and almost severe 
in its dignity ; the charge to the servants, " Whatso- 
ev^er He saith to you, do it," and their ready and 
scrupulous obedience to Him, — even drawing water 
to fill six pots to the brim, and then, to His order, 
without questioning, drawing from them and bear- 
ing to the governor of the feast ; — all this shows 
that there was felt a mysterious sacredness about 
Him, and that His presence and whole conduct in 
that festive scene did conduce to the effect which 
the Evangelist tells us was produced by the miracle 
— viz., to manifest forth His glory, and cause His 
disciples to believe on Him. 

2. The second social scene is described in the 
seventh chapter of the Gospel by St. Luke. It 
was in the house of a Pharisee, who, we are told 
by the Evangelist, had " desired Him that He 
would eat with him." " And He went into the 
Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat." 

Here we find the Saviour a guest of one of the 
higher or more reputable class. Does He seem to 
have made it a point to render Himself particularly 
acceptable to that class t Did He flatter His host, 



CHRIST IN SOCIETY. 247 

or conform with supple facility to his prejudices 
and customs ? Read the Gospel narrative, and 
see. The Evangelist goes on straightway to tell 
us that " behold, a woman in the city, which was 
a sinner " — a sinner, as we cannot but infer from 
the phraseology, of commonly disreputable fame 
— " when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in 
the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of 
ointment, and " — encouraged by His presence, to 
enter where she would otherwise have been ex- 
cluded — she " stood at His feet behind Him, 
weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, 
and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and 
kissed His feet, and anointed them with the oint- 
ment." The Pharisee is offended, and concludes 
at once that Jesus cannot be a prophet, or He 
would not permit such a woman to touch Him. 
What then is the conduct, and what is the 
language of Jesus ? Turning to His self-righteous 
host. He says, " Simon, I have somewhat to say 
unto thee. There was a certain creditor which had 
two debtors : the one owed five hundred pence ; 
and the other, fifty. And when they had nothing 
to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, 
therefore, which of them will love him most ? " 
The Pharisee answers, as he must, " I suppose that 



248 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

he to whom he forgave most." The Saviour 
replies, " Thou hast rightly judged " ; and then, 
turning to the poor penitent outcast. He says, 
" Simon, seest thou this woman ? I entered into 
thy house ; thou gavest me no water for my feet, 
but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped 
them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me 
no kiss ; but this woman, since the time I came 
in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head 
with oil thou didst not anoint ; but this woman 
hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore 
I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are 
forgiven ; for she loved much : but to whom little 
is forgiven, the same loveth little. And He said 
unto her, Thy sins are forgiven." Then, while they 
that sat at meat with Him were questioning within 
themselves, though in their amazement and awe 
they could not speak, He added this most en- 
couraging benediction to the woman : " Thy faith 
hath saved thee : go in peace." 

This is all the Evangelist tells us of that enter- 
tainment. It is enough to illustrate the wonderful, 
superhuman, but gentle and loving, dignity of Christ ; 
yet there is nothing, we need scarcely say, which 
warrants the inference that He made it a point, for 
the sake of being acceptable, to adapt Himself to 



CHRIST IN SOCIETY. 249 

the Opinions and ways of the Pharisee who was His 
host, or of the Pharisee's friends whom He had been 
invited to meet. 

3. The next occasion of the kind — passing over 
that of the text, which occurred meanwhile — is 
recorded in St. Luke's Gospel, chapter xi. This, 
too, was in the house of a Pharisee. " A certain 
Pharisee," the Evangelist tells us, " besought Him to 
dine with him : and He went in, and sat down to 
meat." 

If there was any one thing about which the 
Pharisees were most scrupulous, it was the perform- 
ance of the ceremonial ablutions. Observing strictly 
all the traditions of the Elders, they held "the wash- 
ing of cups, and pots, and brazen vessels, and tables " ; 
and " when they came from the market," or from any 
place where they might by any possibility have come 
in contact with sinners, they would not dare to eat, 
" unless they had first washed their hands." But on 
this occasion, Christ in the very outset makes Him- 
self intolerably offensive to His host and the whole 
company, by totally disregarding this point, not 
simply of etiquette, but in their estimation of reli- 
gious propriety. It seems strange at first that He 
should have done so, for it is an innocent and cleanly 
thing to wash the hands ; and if He could be more 



250 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

acceptable by simply doing this, it might be supposed 
tliat He would have had no objection to it. The 
reason why He did it not, is clearly apparent from 
what follows in the account. This frequent washing, 
though perfectly innocent and even commendable in 
itself, had come to be one of the vain superstitions of 
the Pharisees, — one of the means, in fact, by which 
they satisfied their consciences while indulging the 
impurit)' of lust in their hearts. Therefore the 
Saviour would not wash, that He might expose their 
hypocrisy. The narrative further shows with what 
terrible, scathing, burning indignation He met their 
offended scruples. " "Woe unto you, scribes and 
Pharisees, hypocrites : for ye are as graves which 
appear not, and the men that walk over them are 
not aware of them. Ye fools, that cleanse the out- 
side, but your inward part is full of ravening and 
wickedness." There were la\\yers present, men whose 
profession it was to interpret and apply the moral 
as well as the civil law ; and them He did not spare, 
" Woe unto you also, ye la\\yers : for ye lade men 
with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves 
touch not the burdens with one of your fingers ! " 
Truly, there is nothing here to show that Christ 
made it His aim to be agreeable, but much to show 
that here, as elsewhere. He would not suffer either 



CHRIST IN SOCIETY. 251 

courtesy or agreeability or anything else to stand, 
for a moment, in the way of what was really His 
aim — viz., the advancement of righteousness and 
truth. 

4. There is still another occasion on which He dined 
at the house of a Pharisee; and that too on a Sabbath 
day. It is recorded in St. Luke's Gospel, chapter 
xiv. verses 1-25. There were lawyers and Phari- 
sees present then, as on the last occasion. From the 
Evangelist's account, it appears that He gave offence 
to their scruples, in the first place by working a 
miracle for the cure of one who had the dropsy ; 
and then, when He marked how those who were 
bidden with Him chose out the chief rooms. He 
took occasion to give them precepts of humility, 
which, under the circumstances, must have grated 
harshly indeed on their ears. Nor was He content 
with this ; but went on to advise His host that, when 
He should again make a dinner or supper. He should 
call, not his friends, nor his brethren, neither his 
kinsmen, nor his rich neighbours, but the poor, the 
maimed, the lame, the blind : for so He promised a 
blessing and a recompense at the resurrection of the 
just. Then, after giving this advice, the Evangelist 
tells us, Christ went on to reprove the whole 
company for their neglect of the divine overtures 



252 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

of mercy, by giving them the Parable of the Great 
Supper, the invitations to which were refused and 
slighted by them that were bidden. This parable 
closes the Evangelist's account of that entertain- 
ment. 

5. The next, recorded by the same Evangelist, in 
the nineteenth chapter, was under very different 
circum.stances. There was a certain man named 
Zaccheus, chief among the publicans, and a man of 
wealth, who had shown in an extraordinary manner 
his desire to see Jesus ; and of him, our Lord, know- 
ing beforehand the glad welcome He would receive, 
became a self-invited guest. There were not wanting 
on this occasion, those who murmured that He 
should allow Himself to be the guest of one whose 
occupation made him necessarily to be reputed a 
sinner ; but the illustration which the Evangelist 
gives, of the conversation between the Saviour and 
His publican host, shows very clearly that His con- 
duct and his aim were the same as on other similar 
occasions. " Zaccheus stood and said unto the Lord, 
Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the 
poor ; and if I have taken anything from any man 
by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And 
Jesus said unto him : This day is salvation come to 
this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham. 



CHRIST IN SOCIETY. 253 



For the Son of man is come, to seek and to save 
that which was lost." 

6. There is yet one other social occasion in the 
Gospel records ; but it must have been participated 
in, both by our Lord Himself and by all the others 
present, with feelings of sadness rather than of 
festivity. It was that supper which was made for 
Him in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, 
only a few days before His crucifixion ; and it was 
then that Mary anointed Him with the precious 
ointment of spikenard, and received His blessing 
for the deed, with the declaration that she had 
done it in anticipation of His burial. 

We have now considered all the occasions, in the 
Evangelistic records of our Lord's earthly life, in 
which He is represented as participating in festive 
or social entertainments. We must, in reviewing 
them., have come to the conclusion, that the true 
answer to the question. How is it that He ate and 
drank with publicans and sinners, or with any other 
classes 1 is, not as some who aim to be reformers, 
and many of the world-loving Christians of our 
time, are pleased to think, — for the purpose of mak- 
ing Himself or His religion popular ; not to show 
that Christian principles have their best develop- 
ment in a character that is always acceptable in all 



254 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

sorts of company; nor yet, to show that the ministers 
or members of His Church should make it their 
duty to take the lead in all sorts of schemes for the 
promotion of social enjoyment, or, at least, let it be 
distinctly understood that their religion would never 
conflict with any such arrangement : — Oh no, it is 
very clear that not this, or anything like this, could 
have been the object of Christ. It is true, indeed, 
that He did eat and drink with publicans and 
sinners as well as with scribes, Pharisees, and 
lawyers ; true, indeed, that He did participate in 
scenes of society and hospitality ; true, that He was 
no ascetic, but moved ever among men of all classes, 
with the exercise of the most ready and free, as 
well as truly cordial sympathies. But, at the same 
time, it is most clearly evident that there was a 
separation, on all occasions and in all circumstances, 
between Him and the shallow and untrue conven- 
tionalities of the world in which He mingled ; that 
was everywhere and at all times, and by all with 
whom He came into association was felt to be, pure, 
unworldly, holy, heavenly, free from carnal or sensual 
tastes, and having a single eye to the exemplifica- 
tion of righteousness and the promotion of salvation. 
His whole recorded history verifies completely the 
answer, which He Himself gave, to the question of 



CHRIST IN SOCIETY. 255 

the scribes and Pharisees in the text — viz., that He 
was, as a physician, going among the sick, that He 
might make them whole. 

It is certain that in this, as in all other respects, 
they who profess to be His followers must have His 
spirit, and in the stations and opportunities of their 
daily life walk after His example. The only ques- 
tion that can be admitted, may be, whether, in any 
given case. His higher nature and office authorised 
some features of deportment in Him which would 
be unwarrantable in us : but, these being excepted, 
there can be no Christian consistency, and no safety, 
otherwise than by a faithful following of Him. 
Only thus can His image be formed in us : only 
thus can we exemplify the principles or obtain the 
sanctifying and saving effects of His religion. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
CHRIST S FOLLOWERS IN SOCIETY. 



1/ 



" If ye were of the world, the world would love his own ; but because 
ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, there- 
fore the world hateth you." — St. John xv. 19. 

" Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the 
renewing of your mind; that ye may prove what is that good, and 
acceptable, and perfect will of God. " — Romans xii. 2. 



1 ^^ VERY one feels, in reading the life of our Lord 
in the New Testament, that He was a Being 
who, though in the world, was not of the world. 
The secret of this characteristic was, clearly, not 
in His circumstances or His formal demeanour. He 
was not an ascetic ; He did not separate Himself, in 
His habitual life and conversation, from the common 
society of mankind. That was true of His fore- 
runner — John the Baptist. He was " the voice of 
one crying in the wilderness." Separated in all the 
habits as well as the principles and feelings of his 
life from the men of his day and generation, he 
made the desert his home, and refrained from 
intercourse with his kind, even so much as to deal 
with them for the supply of food or clothing. But 
Christ, on the other hand, came into the world, and 
mingled freely in all the scenes of life. He main- 
tained no seclusion; retired to no desert; but 
moved among men, conversing with them in the 
streets of the cities and towns, on the highways, in 
the markets and synagogues. Nor only so, but He 



26o CHRISTIANITY IN BAIL Y LIFE. 

participated with them also, as we have seen, in 
their social and domestic pleasures. Beginning His 
public ministry by attending, with His disciples, a 
wedding feast. He accepted invitations to social 
entertainments from all classes ; eating and drinking 
now with publicans and sinners, and now with 
scribes, Pharisees, and lawyers ; now with those who 
would proudly assert their right to the chief rooms 
in a feast, and now with a few of His own humble 
disciples who desired no other place than a seat at 
His feet. In a word, He was remarkable for His 
social sympathies and habits ; for His readiness of 
fellowship with all human beings, and His opening 
and outpouring of heart in every human joy or woe. 
While this is true, it is yet very clear that He 
did always maintain a certain real separateness from 
the world in which He thus moved. He was in it, 
and engaged in its various scenes, but still He was 
clearly, and was ever felt by those with whom He 
associated to be, not of it. Most certainly His real, 
inner life was not there, or was there only as sub- 
servient for the time to the high aims and purposes 
of His being. He never went into any scene of 
social intercourse where He did not make it felt, — 
and that, too, without effort or design, but simply by 
the true and unavoidable expression of what He was, 



CHRIST'S FOLLOWERS IN SOCIETY. 261 

— that His presence, while imposing no restraint on 
innocent or seasonable enjoyment, while lacking no 
sympathy which enables one to feel for and with his 
kind, was yet uncongenial with carnal indulgences, 
positively excluded or openly opposed all the 
unrighteous and uncharitable distinctions which the 
fashions of such society ordinarily make, and raised 
the whole scene into an atmosphere above all 
customary conventionalities, making its intercourse 
seem more like that of heaven than of earth. So 
when, in the outset of His public career, He attended 
the wedding feast, there was such a manifestation 
of glory as to fix immovably the faith of His new 
disciples ; so when He dined with Pharisees, He 
put down at once their pride and exposed their 
hypocrisy ; so when He ate and drank with publicans 
and sinners. He proved Himself to. be as a physician 
among the sick that He might cure them, the Son 
of man seeking out the lost, that He might save 
them. 

Since this characteristic in Him, as every other in 
His earthly life, was undoubtedly a true exemplifi- 
cation of the principles of His religion, the question 
which we have to consider is, — In precisely what 
way, and to what extent, we are required or 
authorised to imitate it ; and in the proper imitation 



262 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

of it, what is to be our relation and comportment 
with the world ? 

It is obvious at once, that there were peculiarities 
in the high nature and special office of Christ, which 
warranted a tone and bearing in Him, that would 
not be warrantable without qualification in any of 
us. He had, without question, a right to speak in 
terms of rebuke and denunciation, which would not 
be allowable for us to adopt against any exhibition 
of wrong. Notwithstanding that He was, in His 
human generation, truly a man, and subject to all 
the conditions of humanity, He was, at the same 
time, the only begotten Son of the Most High God, 
and His whole life on earth was assumed for the 
special purpose of working out the world's redemp- 
tion. The conventionalities of mere human civilisa- 
tion, the rules of deportment which are held as the 
code of etiquette in what the world calls society, 
were nothing to Him; less than nothing when based, 
as they often are, on distinctions which are unreal 
and unjust. Therefore it was His indisputable 
right to speak without reserve on all occasions 
and to all persons. Therefore, when the guest of 
a publican. He might declare to him plainly that He 
had come to him as one lost ; when the guest of 
Pharisees, might utterly disregard all their tradi- 



CHRIST'S FOLLOWERS IN SOCIETY. 263 

tionary observances ; and when dining with those 
in high society, might sternly rebuke their pride and 
their hypocritical fastidiousness. 

The relation which any of us sustains towards 
his fellows, is altogether different. We are but men 
among our fellow-men, and have no such right to 
assume the office of censors. It may, indeed, some- 
times, be the clear duty of Christians, and especially 
of Christian ministers, to speak in open reproof of 
sin. It can never be right for them to countenance 
it ; and when silence would be thus justly construed, 
they must speak : but still the question, " Who art 
thou that judgest another man's servant ? " must 
always be a check upon their presuming to ad- 
minister reproof, even when there appears to be 
occasion for it. Besides, it must always be borne 
in mind, that none of us are, as Christ was, sinless : 
and there is very great danger of our being zealous, 
even over-zealous, in denunciation of certain forms 
of worldliness for which we have no liking, while the 
spirit of worldliness holds undisputed sway in our 
hearts. Indeed, there is no more pitiable instance 
of poor human inconsistency than this. We see it 
in the Pharisees whom our Lord reproved. They 
would not dare to eat without having first washed 
their hands from all possible defilement of earthly 



264 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE, 



contact ; they were horrified at Christ eating with 
pubh'cans and sinners : and yet, this clean and 
decorous exterior, which they were so careful to 
maintain, was but the garb with which they con- 
cealed, both from themselves and others, principles 
of conduct hateful and even devilish in their hearts. 
There is inconsistency not less decided, hypocrisy 
not less real, in the modern professor of Christ's 
religion, who turns with pious horror from some 
proscribed form of worldly entertainment, to hoard 
up its cost in the coffers of insatiable covetousness ; 
and who condem.ns, without admission of the least 
possible palliation, those whose customs may differ 
from the traditions of his sect, and yet is not con- 
victed by his own conscience of the fact which is 
apparent to all others, that the ruling principles of 
his life are utterly at variance with the requirements 
of righteousness, mercy, and truth. We need, most 
certainly, to be on our guard against this incon- 
sistency ; and the fact that we are liable to it is one 
point in which we should never forget, that we are 
altogether different from Christ. 

When we have made due allowance for these 
differences, we know of nothing else in the way of 
the close following of His example. We are not 
sinless, like Him ; we have no right, as He had, to 



CHRIST'S FOLLOWERS IN SOCIETY. 265 

censure all whose conduct may seem to us improper. 
As His disciples, we must be with Him — that is, 
we must permit ourselves to go where, and only 
where. He might go ; and we must submit our 
hearts and lives to His principles — that is, we must 
allow ourselves no indulgence in anything which He 
would disapprove, and must earnestly endeavour to 
emulate all that He approves. 

No one can have the least acquaintance with the 
New Testament Scriptures, without being aware 
that the state of Christian discipleship is therein 
plainly taught to be, in some sense, a state of 
separation from the world. Our Lord repeatedly 
declared to those whom He had chosen for disciples, 
in His personal ministry, that He had chosen them 
out of the world ; and consequently that they were 
no longer of the world. He made it an indispens- 
able condition of such discipleship, that every one 
should forsake all worldly kindred and possessions, 
and take up His cross, and come out before the 
world and follow Him. When He had withdrawn 
His bodily presence from the Church on earth, and 
had taken His place, where He now ever liveth to 
intercede for us, at the right hand of the Father 
in heaven, the Apostolic pastors whom His spirit 
inspired, insisted still, no less decidedly, on this 



266 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

Christian separateness. For example, St. Paul, in 
the text already cited, charges the Roman converts 
that they should not be conformed to this world, but 
transformed, by the renewing of their minds. To 
the Corinthian Christians, He gives a similar charge, 
with the earnest language : " What concord hath 
Christ with Belial ? or what part hath he that 
believeth with an infidel ? And what agreement 
hath the temple of the Lord with idols ? for ye 
are the temple of the living God, as God hath said : 
I will dwell in them, and walk in them ; and I will be 
their God, and they shall be My people. Wherefore, 
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith 
the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing ; and I 
will receive you, and will be a Father unto you ; and 
ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord 
Almighty." St. James declares it to be an essen- 
tial part of the Christian's duty, to keep himself 
" unspotted from the world." St. Peter describes it as 
an essential condition of the Christian state, that they 
who are in it " have escaped the pollutions of the 
world, through the knowledge of the Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ." St. John makes this, as a 
general and unqualified Christian declaration : " We 
know that we are of God ; and the whole world 
lieth in wickedness." 



CHRIST'S FOLLOWERS IN SOCIETY. 267 



In perfect agreement with all this plain teaching 
of Holy Writ, the Church has everywhere, and in all 
ages, required of every candidate for admission into 
her fold by baptism, that he shall first make 
a positive and avowed renunciation of the world. 
Not a soul, in all the eighteen centuries of Christian 
history, has ever been permitted to stand as a candi- 
date before the baptismal font, without having the 
question put to him : Dost thou renounce the world ? 
as well as the flesh and the devil ; and not one has 
ever received the baptismal washing, without having 
given to that question, explicitly and distinctly, an 
affirmative response. 

Most unquestionably certain and clear then it is, 
that the Christian state is, in some sense, a state of 
separateness from the world. 

Now, the point is, to determine precisely what 
that means. The example of Christ is here the true 
and sufficient guide. 

In the first place. He has shown us that Christian 
separateness does not, ordinarily, require or authorise 
an actual withdrawal from the common duties or 
enjoyments of life. As He was in the world, so 
must His disciples be. There, for the most part, is 
the field, as there, for the most part, are the oppor- 
tunities and instrumentalities, of their duties. We 



268 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

say, for the most part : and we are careful to make 
this qualification, because it would be a fatal over- 
sight indeed if, in professing to follow the example 
of Christ, one should fail to serve and imitate Him 
in His seasons of retirement from the scenes of 
active duty, to hold private, sacred communion with 
His Father in heaven. Woe to the professing Chris- 
tian who has no such consecrated hours ! Woe to 
him whose heart is not always attuned by such 
seasons of devotion ! For all his active duties, for 
all the opportunities and instrumentalities of his life- 
work, the Christian must, as we have said, be in 
the world : and the world, for him, is just the 
sphere of life in which Providence has placed him. 
Whatever be his calling, just there is his work. 
There are callings or businesses which are wrong in 
themselves, or which necessarily involve those who 
engage in them in sin ; but of such, it scarcely 
need be said, we do not speak, for it is self-evident 
that the Christian may not engage in them. But, in 
whatever honest calling any disciple, or any one 
seeking to be a disciple, of Christ, finds himself 
providentially placed, — in it, and in all the relations 
which it properly includes, his active energies ought, 
unquestionably, to be employed. 

As with duties, so also with enjoyments. These 



CHJ^ISTS FOLLOWERS IN SOCIETY. 269 

are likewise determined, in so far as they are in- 
nocent, by the Providential appointments of our lot. 
There are enjoyments correlative with every condi- 
tion of duty. In all the relations which kindred, or 
neighbourhood, or friendship involves, there are 
sources of enjoyment which are lawful and good, 
and in which the Christian may participate at proper 
times and seasons ; and in the participation enjoy, 
as did the guests of the feast in Cana of Galilee, the 
Saviour's presence and benediction. 

In what, then, consists the Christian's separation 
from the world } The answer is, It consists in pre- 
cisely that which, as we have seen, was the distin- 
guishing characteristic of Christ, — viz., umvorldliness 
of spirit. He was, bodily and most actively, in the 
world : He ate and drank with publicans and sinners, 
as well as with scribes and Pharisees ; but at all 
times, and alike with all classes, it was His meat and 
drink to do His heavenly Father's will. 

Can every disciple be like Him in that respect } 
Must he be t Undoubtedly. " But Christ had come 
from heaven to do a special work ; while we are of 
the earth : and it is not natural for us, as it was for 
Him, to have affections disentangled from worldly 
attachments." That is true ; but remember, it was 
one principal and most essential part of Christ's 



270 CHRISTIANITY IN DAIL V LIFE, 

special work, to raise all His disciples into His own 
filial relationship with God. To be in His Church 
is to be adopted into the family of God : it is to be 
made members of His own Body ; it is to be dead 
with Him unto the world, and risen again in Him 
unto newness of life. It is, most manifestly, incon- 
sistent for one to be in this state, and yet be worldly 
in spirit. His present existence is in the world, and 
so His duties are there ; and inasmuch as His 
heavenly Father has placed Him there and surrounded 
Him with the creations of His infinite goodness, He 
may, with all good conscience, have much enjoy- 
ment therein. Whether in duties or enjoyments, 
there cannot but be a marked separation in spirit 
between him and the mass of mankind who are 
living solely for the present world. This is their 
home. To it are devoted all their affections. In it 
they find all their enjoyments. Their only consist- 
ent motto, therefore, is : " Let us eat and drink, for 
to-morrow we die." — Let us make the most of this 
life, indulge in all its possible sources of enjoyment ; 
for this is all that we have any claim upon, all that 
we have any heart for ! 

The Christian — he who has been " born again " — 
who has been crucified with Christ unto the world, 
and risen again in Him unto newness of life — 



CHRIST'S FOLLOWERS IN SOCIETY. zn 

surely, this is not his language, this cannot be 
his spirit ! He is not a mere descendant of Adam ; 
he is a redeemed and adopted child of God. He 
is not limited in this life to this perishing earth ; 
he is the heir of — nay, he is even now an actual 
participator in — the life everlasting. His tastes, 
likings, affections, desires, must therefore be un- 
worldly : they cannot, unless he is utterly false to 
his profession, they cannot be less than heavenly. 
His real and true life cannot be here, it must be 
" hid with Christ, in God." With this spirit he 
must of necessity be, — nay, to him there is no felt 
necessity, it is the result of the freest spiritual 
spontaneity that he is, as Christ was, separate from 
the world, even while he is in it. He must often 
be actually separate from mere worldliness ; for 
much that they enjoy is positively sinful or leads 
to sin ; and in every such scene he must openly 
refuse to participate. But even where this may not 
be required ; where he may participate and enjoy 
the participation, there will still be something in 
him, in his whole tone and bearing, as there was 
in Christ, which must be felt by all with whom he 
associates, to be uncongenial with worldliness. The 
trifling frivolities, " the foolish jestings, which are not 
convenient " ; the devotion to these convention- 



272 CHRISTIANITY IN BAIL Y LIFE. 

alities and empty vanities which, in truth, though 
shame to say, do really constitute the essentia 
feature of a great part of what is called " society " 
in the world ; it is impossible for the true Christian 
to sympathise with, scarcely possible for him to 
engage in. So then, while he has joys such as 
the world knows not of, and which it can neither 
give nor take away ; it must ever be true, that the 
world in its worldliness will not sympathise with 
him, and will rather dislike than enjoy his com- 
panionship. In other words, the disciples of Christ, 
in every age, must be willing to accept, as one of 
the conditions of faithful discipleship, that which 
our Lord forewarned His first followers of, when 
He declared to them, " If ye were of the worlds the 
world would love his own ; but, because ye are not 
of tlu worlds therefore tJte world hateth yoti." The 
professing Christian who does not know, in his own 
experience, what this means, has very decided reason 
to fear that he has only the form of godliness, not 
the power thereof. 

This being true, how significant it is that the 
practical portion of the first inspired Christian 
Epistle opens with a precept for the avoidance of 
worldly conformity ! — significant, surely, as involving 
a first principle, and setting its mark as a funda- 



CHRIST'S FOLLOWERS IN SOCIETY. 273 

mental and indispensable distinction between those 
who are Christians and those who are not. " Be 
not conformed to this world," or, as it is rendered 
more exactly in the Revised Version — " Be not 
fashioned according to this world." How significant 
likewise is the fact that the inspired antithesis with 
which the Apostle completes the precept is, " but 
be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind ! " 
" Transformed by the renewing of your mindr Ah ! 
that is the real secret of the Christian, as distin- 
guished from the worldly, character. It is not, 
except where there are agencies positively sinful 
and influences positively wrong, that there should 
or can be an actual separation. The outward 
system in which our lot is cast, is providentially 
ordered to be the sphere of our ordinary life-work, 
and we are not called to leave it for any mere ideal 
state ; but the call is to be inwardly as estranged from 
the evil that cleaves to the system around us, as if 
we were not of it. " I pray not that Thou shouldest 
take them out of the world ; but that Thou shouldest 
keep them from the evil." The truth is, that there 
is no way by which this separating and refining 
effect can be effectually wrought in any of us, but 
by that renewing of our minds which comes from 
close, personal communion with that Holy One, 

18 



274 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

who, when on earth in our flesh, could truly say 
of Himself, " The prince of this world cometh, and 
hath nothing in Me." Without the renewal of mind 
which is begotten in just this personal communion 
with Christ, there will inevitably be the lack of a 
genuine Christian character, which cannot be counter- 
acted or counterbalanced by any merely professional 
separation from anything that we may like to stigma- 
tise as the world. 

On the other hand, if this be true of us, then 
we understand how to apply the precept, " Be not 
fashioned according to the world " ; for we do not 
look to the world as our model or our rule. We 
have been ransomed from thraldom to it ; we have 
renounced its sway and repudiated its authority. 
Our example is a single holy one. Our rule of life 
is inspired by His Spirit. Our daily walk is in 
communion with Him. In that communion we are 
constantly being more and more transformed ; so 
that all our habits of thought and feeling are in the 
line of divine demonstration, proving, more and more 
clearly, and more and more satisfactorily to ourselves, 
and to the convincing of others, what is that good, 
and acceptable, and perfect will of God. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

CHRISTIAN COMFORT. 



"Blessed be God. even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort ; who comforteth us in 
all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in 
any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of 
God."'— 2 Corinthians i. 3. 4. 



/^^OMFORT has its office only in a world like 
^"^ ours, of mingled sorrow and hope. It has no 
place in heaven ; for it is not needed there, where 
felicity is perfect. It has, more emphatically, no 
place in hell ; for in the desperation of lost spirits 
there is no hope to which it can point. Only here 
in this world, saddened by sin yet not excluded from 
the hope of redemption, is comfort needed, or even 
possible. 

Here it is needed, sooner or later, and from one 
cause or another, by us all. It is a very old and 
trite, but not less true saying, that " Man is born to 
trouble, as the sparks fly upward." " More or less, 
we all have, we all must have, our trials of pain and 
sorrow. If any seem to be exempt, being permitted 
for years to go on in the world's sunshine, it is only 
that troubles, when they come, should fall heavier." 
Sooner or later we all need comfort. 

As we all need it, we are likewise capable of it. 
We have an instinctive yearning for it, a conscious- 



278 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

ness, as it were, that we are somehow entitled to it 
and ought to receive it. Any one who has had trial 
knows this by experience. At such a time, there is 
in the quivering sensibilities an instinctive feeling 
after comfort, just as the fibres of plants, in a dark 
place, feel for the light. With this consciousness of 
the need of comfort there is an involuntary appre- 
hension of our capacity for it, and a trust, indistinct 
it may be, but real, that it exists somewhere for us. 
This is all that keeps us from utter desperation, — all 
that holds us up from the condition of devils, who 
have no hope. 

While comfort is thus needed in our world, and 
adapted to it, it is at the same time most assuredly 
true that this grace is something which is not of 
this world, which has its root nowhere in the soil 
of our fallen earth. 

Let us apprehend distinctly what comfort implies. 
Obviously, it is called for, and can exercise its 
functions, only where there is sorrow. Then its 
office is, neither to make light of the trial, to 
represent it as in any way less than it really is, 
nor yet to deaden or blunt our natural sensibilities. 
It is not a jester, laughing at calamity ; nor a 
sophist, arguing against its power ; nor yet is it 
an opiate, to stupefy, or an intoxicating draught, to 



CHRISTIAN COMFORT. 279 

inflame with delirium the faculties of the afflicted. 
But, recognising all the sorrowfulness of the trial, 
holding it and seeing it in its true light, recognising 
also and sacredly respecting all our sensibility to 
suffering, the work of comfort is to support us — not, 
as we have said, to stupefy or amuse, but to support ; 
according to its literal signification, to make us 
strongs — to enable us, that is, to stand up and look 
steadily at our trial, to measure, with calm sadness, 
its height, and breadth, and length, and depth ; and 
yet, bear up, and go forth again to life's duties, 
stronger, manlier, nobler, better, than we were before. 
This is comfort. 

Now, we say, this cannot be derived from any 
mere earthly source. 

Where on earth will you seek for it ? Shall it 
be in any system of human philosophy ? Philo- 
sophy — that is, the result of human speculations 
and reasonings. But of what avail are reasonings, 
however ingenious, in real sorrow ? Come to the 
sorrowing heart, every nerve of which is quivering 
with anguish, and present your reasonings for its 
consideration ! The friends of Job tried that, in 
his hour of sorrow ; and the answer which they 
wrung from him was but this : " Miserable com- 
forters are ye all." Their reasoning was ingenious, 



28o CHRISTIANITY IN BAIL V LIFE. 

their conclusions plausible, and, for the most part, 
true enough in the abstract ; but what availed 
all this to comfort him ? His sorrow was real. 
He felt that ; and it was not diminished in the 
least by any theoretical explanation of its origin 
or its nature. One word or look of real sympathy 
was worth more than all the demonstrations of 
reason. The All-merciful and All-wise Saviour 
recognised and conformed to this when He met 
the bereaved and weeping sisters of Lazarus, and 
attempted no reasoning, but simply wept with them, 
and gave them the precious promise of the Resur- 
rection. Oh no ; philosophy is well enough, when 
we are in a mood for its abstractions. It occupies 
the thoughts, and so interests the attention, of the 
speculative ; it affords a sort of satisfaction to the 
curious ; it sometimes helps to reliev^e perplexity 
in earnest minds ; but it cannot comfort. It contains 
no balm of consolation which has any virtue to heal 
the wound or still the pain of real sorow. 

Turning from philosophy, shall we look for the 
elements of comfort in the excitements and changes 
of the world : in the engrossing exactions of its 
business, or the intoxicating whirl of its amuse- 
ments 1 It is not to be denied that these have a 
certain power to counteract the agonising force of 



CHRISTIAN COMFORT. 281 

affliction. After the shock of sorrow is over — the 
first great shock, that breaks up the very foundations 
of h'fe, and convulses the soul with unappeasable 
anguish — if one betake himself with resolute de- 
termination to life's business, he may succeed (he 
will be not unlikely to succeed) in so engrossing 
his thoughts in its cares as to exclude the keen 
remembrance of his trial ; or, if he rush into the 
whirl of the world's amusements, it is possible that 
he may become so intoxicated as, for the time, to 
lose his consciousness of it or his sensibility to it : 
and, even in the natural flow of time itself, there 
are soothing influences, wearing off the keenness of 
recollection and softening the impression of sorrow ; 
so that Time has been called, not untruly in this 
sense, the All-healer. 

But comfort is surely something higher and better 
than all this. To be stupefied or delirious, to be 
made oblivious or intoxicatedly excited, is not to 
be made strong. Nay, these opiates or stimulants 
can have no other permanent effect than to debili- 
tate. The heart will carry its heavy burden into 
the intensest engrossments of business ; and its 
sinking weight will be felt depressing continually, 
and, at times, utterly crushing. The feverish ex- 
citement of amusement is sure to have its terrible 



282 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

reactions ; and even the steady flow of Time has 
its soothing effect, only as it lulls us into partial 
forgetfulness. 

What we need is not merely this, but an increase 
of strength : strength to bear our burden, and, in 
the bearing of it, to accept all our responsibilities 
and discharge all our duties with a spirit purified, 
exalted, and ennobled. That is, to be comforted. 

Where, then, is the sorrowing one to find this ? 

The Christian answer is : By coming directly to 
the mercy-seat and submitting unreservedly to the 
disposition of divine grace. Not, let it be observed, 
by theorising about the principles or methods of 
the divine government (that is only another form of 
philosophising, even though our theories be perfectly 
correct and even scriptural) ; but, by coming directly 
unto Him as the all-sufficient Author and Sustainer 
of our existence, — the God of all comfort, the 
Father of mercies, and the Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ : looking up in a childlike spirit unto 
Him, recognising the relation which we sustain 
towards Him, apprehending the exceeding great and 
precious promises of His Gospel, and uttering the 
feelings and desires of the burdened spirit in lan- 
guage such as this : " My Father, Thou hast laid 
this great grief upon me ; I know that Thou art 



CHRISTIAN COMFORT. 283 

infinitely wise and good ; and I am weak — oh, how 
weak and helpless, and short-sighted, and sinful ! 
But I am Thy child : Thou hast made me and 
placed me here, and given me whatsoever I have. 
Thou knowest my frame : Thou hast a perfect know- 
ledge of my infirmities and my needs. Thou hast 
given the plainest assurances that Thou designest 
only my best good in the dispensations of affliction. 
And now, O Father, guide and sustain me. Teach 
me by Thy good Spirit what to do and be : how 
to receive, to bear, and comport myself in this great 
trial, so that it may accomplish in me that effect 
which Thou designest that it should work. I submit 
myself implicitly to Thee. I am ready to be what- 
ever Thou wouldest have me. Only vouchsafe unto 
me the comfort of Thy grace, and bring me at last 
to the true end of my life." 

One who, in trouble of any nature whatsoever, 
shall thus go and prostrate himself at the divine 
mercy-seat, and shall continue in the spirit of such 
supplication, will most assuredly know what it is 
to be comforted^ and that even so that, without any 
diminished sensibility to his loss, he will be able 
to say with the Psalmist, — " It is good for me that 
I have been afflicted." 

It may not be easy to tell precisely how this 



284 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

result will be attained, by what process the comfort 
will come to him and be apprehended by him ; 
because this depends on the adaptations of divine 
grace to individual circumstances and character- 
istics : but there are certain steps in it and ele- 
ments of it which may be indicated. In the first 
place, as the dark clouds with which the sorrowful 
one is overshadowed begin to lift a little, there 
will dawn upon him a new aspect of life. Before 
affliction, the world and our life in it seem to be 
so exactly adapted to each other as to make it 
difficult, indeed scarcely possible, for us to realise 
that the interests and destiny of the one are not 
in common with those of the other. Life and the 
world move forward together naturally, as things 
of course ; and our natural inclinations lead us to 
take their concurrence for granted, as if it had 
always been and always would continue to be so. 
The effect on our character is, obviously, to make 
us light-hearted, and, not so obviously but with 
scarcely less certainty, to make us unreflecting 
and unfeeling. True, it is a pleasant thing to look 
sometimes upon those who have never been afflicted. 
" We look with a smile of interest upon the 
smooth brow and open countenance, and our hearts 
thrill within us at the ready laugh or the piercing 



CHRISTIAN COMFORT. 285 

glance. There is a buoyancy and freshness of mind 
in those who have never suffered, which is beautiful. 
It befits an angel ; it befits very young persons 
and children, who have never been delivered over 
to their three great enemies." ''" But in men and 
women, soiled more or less with sins, this lightness 
of spirits is apt to degenerate into want of feeling, 
and beget a hard and selfish temper. Such per- 
sons, as Mr. Newman truly says in a sermon from 
which we have just been quoting, are " like spoiled 
children," feeling and acting as if everything must, 
as a matter of course, " give way to their own 
wishes and conveniences." Then all the good 
gifts of God's bounty, all the delights of the eye 
and the soul, are appropriated and used without 
a thought of thankfulness for their possession or 
question as to the title of their tenure. 

Here it is that affliction brings to us a revelation. 
It discloses terrible breaks and disharmonies in 
the world's life. It puts antagonisms between our 
interests and its interests : makes us feel that we 
are really in our nature separate from it. Then, 
when the affliction is sanctified by divine grace, 
we begin to understand that our true life is really 
much higher than its life. We begin to feel that 
* J. H. Newman, Par. Sermons, vol. ii., p. 381. 



286 CHRISTIANITY IN BAIL V LIFE. 



we are here, not merely to be the world's admirers 
or the world's slaves, but that we may be the 
world's conquerors. We see then, as we have 
never seen before, both the greatness and the 
littleness of our mortal state : — greatness, in that it 
is probationary to immortal exaltation and blessed- 
ness ; but littleness, in the unreal and unsubstantial 
elements of its present earthly condition. 

With this revelation of life's purposes and destina- 
tion, God's grace leads the sorrowful spirit which it 
sanctifies to an apprehension, more or less distinct 
and vivid, of the fearful mystery of sin. Perhaps it 
is not too much to say that affliction, in some form 
or another, is indispensably necessary to put sin 
before us, at least in some of its aspects, in a true 
light. In relation to God, the most favoured 
children of innocence may have a sense of its ex- 
ceeding sinfulness and shrink from its evil ; but the 
hatefulness of sin is learned nowhere so well as in 
the school of affliction. The terrible facts which 
then confront us, and the wretchedness in which 
they involve us, are unaccountable save as sin's 
consequences. They would drive us into atheism, 
into the denial that there is any God, or else into 
the belief that He is a fiend, if they were not 
traceable to sin, and if sin were not felt and known 



CHRISTIAN COMFORT. 287 

to be in opposition to His nature and will. The 
mystery is fearful still ; but when this much has 
come to be apprehended, its true effect is to beget a 
real abhorrence of sinfulness, and then, humiliation 
and repentance and self-distrust, because of our 
felt participation in it. Then comes the welcome 
annunciation of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ. Then, as rays of light in the dark 
valley of the shadow of death are to the troubled 
spirit, such assurances and promises by Him as 
these : — " God so loved the world that He gave 
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
" I am the Resurrection and the Life." " Come 
unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest." " God doth not willingly 
afflict or grieve the children of men, but, like as a 
father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them 
that fear Him." " My son, despise not thou the 
chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art 
rebuked of Him. For whom the Lord loveth He 
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He 

receiveth We have had fathers of our flesh 

which corrected us, and we gave them reverence : 
shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the 
Father of spirits, and live } For they, verily, for a 



288 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

few days chastened us after their own pleasure ; but 
He, for our profit, that we might be partakers of 
His holiness. Now, no chastening for the present 
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous ; nevertheless, 
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of right- 
eousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and 
the feeble knees ; and make straight paths for your 
feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the 
way ; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace 
with all men, and holiness, without which no man 
shall see the Lord." 

Oh, these are indeed accents of most precious 
comfort to the sorrowful spirit ! and when they are 
heard with the ear and received into the heart of 
faith, there is light in the darkness. The hands 
which hung down are lifted up ; the feeble knees 
receive strength ; and the trial ceases to be a burden. 
It is borne still : but it is borne as birds bear their 
wings, and he who bears it goes forth with it, and is 
raised by it into that true life, which, though it be 
in the world, is not of it, — though it be among the 
children of men, is hid with Christ in God. 

Blessed are the mourners who are thus comforted ! 
Tribulation worketh patience in them ; and patience, 
experience ; and experience, hope ; and hope maketh 



CHRISTIAN COMFORT. 289 

not ashamed ; because the love of God is shed 
abroad in their hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is 
given unto them. Being thus comforted of God, 
they are made in turn able to comfort others also. 
They are made like Christ in sympathy, by their 
participation in His sufferings. So their experi- 
ence, with its results, finds a true expression in the 
language of the Apostle : " Blessed be God, even 
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of 
mercies and God of all comfort, who comforteth us 
in all our tribulation, that we may be able to 
comfort them which are in any trouble, by the 
comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of 
God." 



T9 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE CHRISTIAN SENSE OF HEAVENLY 
CITIZENSHIP. 



Our conversation is in heaven." — Philippians iii. 2. 



•^ I ^HE word which is here translated conversation 
would be rendered more exactly, as it is in 
the Revised Version, by citizenship : meaning the 
state and corresponding conduct of citizens. The 
truth which the Apostle here declares is, that the 
Christian state is, even here and now while still in 
the life of earth, a heavenly state, so that all who 
are truly members of it are thereby invested, not 
only with a presumptive title to a heavenly inherit- 
ance, but also with present actual citizenship in 
the heavenly world. 

This is emphatically a New Testament truth. 
We find it first, distinctly and repeatedly, in the 
personal teachings of our Lord. Indeed, the assertion 
of it and of its bearing on human duty and destiny, 
might be said to have been the leading and most 
characteristic topic of His personal teachings. No 
phrase was more common in His mouth than that 
of " the kingdom of Heaven " ; and to explain what 
He meant by it, and illustrate it, was the object 



294 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

of the greater part of His parables. They began 
almost uniformly with the sentence : " The kingdom 
of Heaven," or, " of God, is like," — and then follows 
the illustration. When we carefully consider these 
parables, we find that they relate, not at least 
primarily, as we might anticipate, to the future state, 
nor yet to the reign of God in the celestial world, 
but to the present life as organised and regulated in 
the Christian dispensation. For instance, in the 
first parable — that of " the Sower " — it is clear that 
the conditions are found and fulfilled only in life 
on earth. It is only here that the preaching of 
the Gospel is to fall, as seed, on different kinds of 
soil ; as, indeed, it is only here, so far as we know, 
that the Gospel is to be preached at all. So with 
the several parables which show the nature and 
legitimate work of the Christian Church, — as, for 
instance, that of " the Mustard Seed," " the Draw- 
net," " the Marriage of the King's Son," " the 
Steward," " the Unmerciful Servant," " the Vine- 
yard," and " the Ten Virgins," — it is obvious that 
the intended reference was to the conditions and 
responsibilities which belong to the present life. 
These all begin with the phrase — " The king- 
dom of Heaven is like." We observe also that 
when, in a few instances, — as in the parables of 



SENSE OF HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP. 295 

"Dives and Lazarus," or, "the Stewardship and Final 
Reckoning," — the divine government is represented 
as the administration of eternal justice determining 
human destinies beyond this life, the same phrase 
is used as applicable to both states alike ; plainly- 
implying that they were considered to be, not 
different or separate, but essentially one and the 
same. To precisely the same effect are many of our 
Lord's direct practical teachings ; as, for instance, 
that in which He bids us to " seek first the kingdom 
of God," and to " lay up " our " treasures in heaven, 
that " our " hearts may be there also." 

A truth so characteristic in the teachings of the 
Master could not but have made a specially strong 
impression on His disciples. Accordingly, we find 
it in the Epistles throughout as a recognised 
premise of Christian argument and exhortation. 
For example, when St. Paul, in writing to the 
Corinthians, speaks incidentally of his own personal 
labours and trials in the ministry, he refers to the 
motives by which he was led to undertake such a 
ministry and was sustained in the endurance of its 
trials. And the leading motive thus indicated was 
drawn from the recognition of precisely this truth : 
" We look," he says, " not at the things which are 
seen, but at the things which are not seen ; for the 



296 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

things which are seen are temporal, but the things 
which are not seen are eternal. For we know that, 
if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, 
we have a building of God, a house not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens." Again, in writing 
to the Ephesians, he still more clearly speaks of 
this heavenly citizenship as an unquestionable pre- 
rogative of the present Christian state : " God, which 
is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He 
loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath 
quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are 
saved,) and hath raised us up together in heavenly 
places in Christ Jesus. . . . Now, therefore, ye are 
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens 
with the saints and of the household of God." So, 
when exhorting the Colossian converts to heaven ly- 
mindedness, he does not hesitate to give them the 
motive in the recognition of this truth as a simple 
unquestionable fact : " For ye are dead, and your 
life is hid with Christ in God." So, in commending 
the past faithfulness and urging on the higher zeal 
of the Hebrew converts, he tells them : " Ye had 
compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully 
the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves 
that ye have in heaven a better and enduring 
substance." Subsequently he enlarges on this with 



SENSE OF HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP. 297 

magnificent eloquence : " For ye are not come unto 
the mount that might be touched, and that burned 
with fire, and unto blackness, and darkness, and 
tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice 
of words ; . . . but ye are come unto Mount Zion, 
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly 
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of 
angels, to the general assembly and Church of the 
firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God 
the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made 
perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New 
Covenant, and to the Blood of sprinkling that 
speaketh better things than that of Abel." 

In all such passages — and these are but specimens 
of texts to the same effect in the Epistles throughout 
— it is very clear that this thought of our present 
actual citizenship in the heavenly world was in the 
mind of the inspired writers, and the truth of it 
was recognised as a fundamental prerogative of the 
Christian state. 

We are all familiar with this scriptural language, 
as we have been all our lives accustomed to read 
and hear it : but it is much to be feared that this 
very familiarity may be in its effect with us, as that 
of the familiarity of " a thrice-told tale," only to 
have dulled our apprehension of its real meaning 



298 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

and purpose, and to make it therefore the more 
needful for us to fix our attention renewedly upon 
it, and put ourselves, with quickened interest, to 
asking, what it does, in verj^ truth, mean for us and 
require of us ? 

To this question we cannot get the true answer, 
without a clear understanding and acceptance of the 
relative state and condition of this world, as it is 
represented in the Scriptures of Revelation. The 
truth for us on this point is, that this world in which 
we have our present life is not a product of mere 
chance, or of impersonal force, but a veritable part 
of the creation of Almighty God ; that as such, it 
was at first created, and was intended to be a 
legitimately constituted province of His universal 
dominion ; and man, when made its lord and 
master, was so made and placed by His appointment 
and under the delegated conditions of His righteous 
sovereignty. 

In the fall through sin, there was a violation of 
these conditions on man's part, and, in consequence, 
the harmony and blissful tranquillity of the life of 
earth was broken up ; and disorder, discontent, and 
final death became our common lot. 

From the beginning to the end of His ministry, 
our Lord declared it to be His sole purpose to 



SENSE OF HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP. 299 



save the world from this wretchedness and its 
eternal consequences. To this end He declared, 
plainly and repeatedly, He came into the world : 
that, having been eternally the only begotten Son 
of the Almighty Father in heaven, He had con- 
descended to incarnation in our human life, and 
fulfilled its righteous obligations even under the 
disabilities and amid the disharmonies of its fallen 
condition. The organisation of His Church, then, 
was the organisation of a redeemed body ; an Ecclesia, 
or corporate assembly, reclaimed from rebellion, and 
brought back into original allegiance with more than 
the original endowment of gracious protection and 
blessing. Therefore Christ was accustomed to say 
to His personal disciples, " Ye are not of the world, 
even as I am not of the world," and therefore, the 
very first, fundamental, and most characteristic pre- 
rogative of the Christian life was understood, from 
the beginning of Christian history, to be that of a 
real title to heavenly citizenship. A real title, we 
say, by which we mean that the heavenly citizenship 
was understood and certified to be, not an imaginary 
satisfaction of pious aspiration or hope, but a 
veritable prerogative of the actual life. Nor was 
there any invalidation of this title, by the mere 
circumstance that life was still on earth, any more 



300 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

than the prerogatives and rights of citizenship in 
relation to an earthly kingdom are invalidated by- 
residence in a province of the kingdom. The 
provincial subject is, in every respect, as truly 
a subject, and as fully entitled to citizen's rights 
and prerogatives, as if he were a resident of the 
capital or even a dweller in the very palace of the 
king. 

Such, then is, in very truth, our heavenly citizen- 
ship in the Christian state : and so without any 
sense of unreality, and without any thought of 
necessary qualification by concession to pious senti- 
ment, may we — all of us who are within the terms 
of the Christian covenant, and honestly aiming to 
keep our daily life in loyal subjection to its condi- 
tions, — take up as our own this claim of the apostle, 
and say with him, and with the fulness of his 
meaning : " Our conversation — our citizenship — is, 
even here and now in Heaven." 

This, as a real prerogative, involves real and very 
important consequences. It verifies, in the first 
place, our right to participation in heavenly privi- 
leges and graces. Being regenerated in Christ, the 
Son of God, we have our life, and that really and 
in the truest possible sense, in Him, and His Spirit 
bears witness with our spirit that we are sons of 



SENSE OF HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP. 301 

God. While we are living here, Christ iiveth in us ; 
and in all the struggles and difficulties, amid all the 
disabilities and disappointments, and under all the 
changes and chances, of our earthly lot, our life is 
truly hid with Christ in God. Our true life, then, 
is independent of our earthly circumstances. These 
have their uses as the conditions of our present 
tenancy and the measure of our responsibilities in 
present trust ; but neither wealth nor poverty, nor 
any other condition of the life of earth, determines 
the rank or estate of any one before God, and as 
assigned and estimated in the heavenly sphere. 
Therefore, in a true realisation of the prerogatives 
of our Christian citizenship, we can say, with the 
apostolic estimation of life's fortunes, whether of 
good or ill, " None of these things move me " ; and 
may count all things but loss for the excellency of 
the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Let it be distinctly understood that this is no 
fantasy of pious sentiment. It is a real prerogative 
of the Christian state ; and, if we claim to be 
Christians, to have our life regulated by Christian 
principles and animated by Christian faith and hope, 
it is ours and should be claimed and enjoyed by 
every one of us in our personal sphere and relations. 
The early Christians, as we have seen, thought 



302 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE 

much of it, and in its realisation counted themselves 
but strangers and pilgrims in the world, knowing 
that they had in heaven a far better and enduring 
inheritance. It was but natural that they should 
have been almost dazzled by the first flashes of so 
glorious a revelation as that of the heavenly world 
which had then just been made in the Resurrection 
and Ascension of Christ ; and their temptation was 
to undervalue the present world in comparison with 
the heavenly inheritance. This temptation, we, in 
our later age and generation, have long since passed ; 
and the revelation, being old and familiar, has no 
longer the power of a fresh inspiration, and can be 
valued and felt effectively only as we bring our 
selves to realise its truth. 

This, then, is a point for real Christian aim and 
effort. We are to try to remember, and be willing to 
recognise and accept the fact, that this world is not 
our home ; to try to think, and be willing to think, 
of the life here as not our true life ; to set our affec- 
tions and our hopes on heaven and heavenly things : 
to think of the world as the sphere of duty, the 
place of daily work, the allotted trial ground and 
field of present probation, but, in the long run and 
for enduring purposes, only as a thoroughfare 
whereon we are pilgrims and strangers, being assured 



SENSE OF HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP. 303 

that our true inheritance is above, and our most 
veritable citizenship is that of heaven. 

There is almost no circumstance or condition of 
life in which the realisation of this truth will not 
affect our feelings by an entire change in our 
standard of estimation. One or two illustrations 
may be suggested in conclusion. 

There are Providential dispensations which must 
come sooner or later to every one of us — the dis- 
pensations of bereavement, when those who have 
been nearest and dearest to us are taken away, and 
we are made to know and feel the sadness of a 
longing for " the touch of a vanished hand, and the 
sound of a voice that is still " : sooner or later, we 
say, these must come to every one of us ; and then, 
oh! the difference, the immeasurable difference, 
between a vague, indetermined, hopeless sense of 
bereavement, with only the blackness of darkness into 
which we cannot peer before us, — what an infinite 
difference between this and a well-grounded hope 
and assured faith that the Redeemer liveth, and that 
they who are no longer here are in blissful rest with 
Him ! This assurance can come from no mere 
spasmodic faith : it must be rooted in an assured, 
habitual conviction of our heavenly citizenship. 

Finally, in our own individual experiences, if we 



304 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE, 

are not cut off by a stroke of divine Providence, we 
must all know what it is to be, and to feel that we 
are growing old. It has long ago been said to be 
a very rare, and yet very desirable achievement, to 
grow old gracefully. We know of but one way to 
do that. Certainly not, in growing old reluctantly 
or unwillingly, with no acceptance of the fact except 
in submission to inevitable destiny and with a con- 
stant effort, the more desperate as it is proved to be 
impotent, to shrink back from the ever-nearing goal ; 
there is nothing graceful or admirable, though, alas ! 
how much that is common, in growing old in that 
wise. But there is an altogether different ideal. 
Let advancing age be but the later stages in the 
course which has from the first been deemed only a 
short journey ; let the end be that which has always 
been regarded as our home ; and surely, however 
pleasant or attractive we may have found the way 
to be, and however much of responsibility may seem 
to argue for our continuance in it, the advancing 
stages will be thankfully welcomed and the end to 
which they bear us looked forward to with a con- 
stant brightening of anticipation, as that of the 
true and most desirable consummation. And when 
at last, the end is reached, and death comes to 
such an one, he can lie down and sleep without a 



SENSE OF HE A VENL V CITIZENSHIP. 305 

single shudder of dread or regret ; not only with 
the serenity of 

' ' One who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams " ; 

but with the tranquillity of celestial faith and hope, 
as one who sees heaven already open, and hears 
with no misgiving, no doubt, the voice of his lifelong- 
trusted Redeemer, saying unto him, " Come, ye blessed 
of My Father, receive the kingdom prepared for 
you from the beginning of the world." 

Who would not desire this blissful consummation ? 
It may be attained by every one ; but only through 
a life whose animating and sustaining principle is 
that faith which is " the substance of things hoped 
for and the evidence of things not seen." 



20 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE CHRISTIAN SENSE OF SPIRITUAL 
COMPANIONSHIP, 



' ' Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a 
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which 
doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is 
set before us." — Hebrews xii. i. 



'nr^HIS passage can hardly fail to strike even the 
most casual reader as a beautifully figurative 
exhortation to Christian patience and perseverance : 
but we do not see half its beauty or feel half 
its force, until we study it carefully in connection 
with the context. We must read the preceding 
chapter until we have caught its spirit and succeeded 
in bringing vividly before us the host of worthies 
whose faith the Apostle commemorates. We must 
see them as he saw them, forming, through succes- 
sive generations from Abel down, the great company 
of the faithful ; treading each in the footsteps of 
the others, on to that heavenly country which, by 
faith, in common they sought. Then, we are to 
conceive of them as gathered together, even as 
drops of water are gathered, into one immense 
cloud. Descending from the upper heavens and 
floating on the air, they hover over the Christian 
race-ground, — a " cloud of witnesses " to the runners 
there, — witnesses both of them and to them, ani- 



310 CHRISTIANITY IN DAIL V LIFE. 



mating by their presence as spectators, and holding 
out the highest encouragement, by testifying to the 
practicability of the race and the certainty of its 
reward. 

Then we are to place ourselves on the course, 
and conceive of the Apostle as encouraging us on 
when we begin to grow faint and weary, by pointing 
to this immense concourse of the faithful, and bidding 
us catch inspiration from their presence. '* Where- 
fore," he says, " seeing we also are compassed about 
with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside 
every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset 
us, and let us run with patience the race that is 
set before us." 

The mighty host of the saints of God that in 
every age, even from the beginning of the world, 
have run their race and entered into their rest, are 
thus represented as witnesses of our present Christian 
labours and trials, — witnesses, not only to see how 
we act our part, but also to give us, by their 
presence and their testimony, sustaining power to 
act it well. 

In apprehending this as the import of the passage, 
it must be obvious to every one, that the relations 
of the Christian life as here portrayed, are infinitely 
higher and more extensive than we are apt to con- 



SENSE OF SPIRITUAL COMPANIONSHIP. 311 

ceive while standing on the low level of modern 
Christianity. The conceptions here all run out in 
mere individualism. We are accustomed to hear 
it stated as a self-evident truth, an axiom which is 
entitled to universal acceptation, that religion is a 
matter which rests solely between every individual 
man and his God. Salvation, in our modern Gospel, 
is a strictly personal work and privilege : so abso- 
lutely personal, that every man who will attend to 
it is held bound to take precisely such a course, and 
comply exactly with such terms, as if he were the 
only person in the world and it were provided for 
himself alone. Thus we have lost sight of all 
corporate powers and relations, and run the Chris- 
tian race as if we were alone in it ; as if there were 
no competitors and no spectators. So Christianity, 
which was designed to bind the human family 
together, — making all its members, in the strictest 
sense members of one Body, — has, in fact, come to 
be regarded as a universal disintegrator, separating 
every man from his brother- man and from the race, 
and leaving each one to stand or fall, not only on 
his own individual responsibility, but by his own 
individual strength or weakness. 

Far different from this was the ideal of the 
Christian life which animated the Apostles and their 



312 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

converts, the primitive disciples. They never spoke, 
and seem never for a moment to have thought, of 
themselves as standing alone. Their Christian life 
was ever felt to be the life of members in a body : 
and so they were bound, every one to every other 
one, and through every one to the whole, by relation- 
ships as intimate and as vital as those which connect 
the members of a living body with each other, and 
all together with their common head. They had 
" one faith, one Lord, one baptism " ; and their 
trials and their joys, their dangers and sufferings, 
their hopes and fears, their affections and sympathies, 
all were, and were held by them, as common. If 
one member suffered, all suffered : if one rejoiced, it 
brought joy to all. Not only so : not only did they 
thus hold themselves as one with each other ; but 
also as one with all the saints of God in all time. 
They could look back on the long line of the faith- 
ful, through all the successive ages, up to the very 
infancy of our race, and recognise in each one an 
elder brother, preceding them in the order of time, 
but still, not without them made perfect ; and, there- 
fore, not indifferent to, not uninterested in, their 
endeavours for the Christian goal. Abel and 
Enoch, Noah and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and 
Joseph and Moses, and the thousands of others 



SENSE OF SPIRITUAL COMPANIONSHIP. 313 

of whom the world was not worthy, and who, 
through faith, counted themselves, even while here, 
as citizens of another country, even an heavenly ; — 
to all these they felt themselves united, being par- 
takers with them of the same spirit of faith, having 
a like portion on earth, bound to the exercise of a 
like patience in enduring its trials, and a like un- 
wavering perseverance in pressing on to that " better 
country " which was revealed as. to all alike, their 
eternal home. 

It was under the influence of this feeling, and 
with the most vivid impression of this idea, that the 
Apostle wrote ; and never shall we have a true 
sense of our position and heritage as Christians 
until we realise this truth. 

We are not left to stand alone. Though we may 
seem to be so in our day and generation ; though 
the world around us knows nothing of our spiritual 
conflicts, and cares as little for them ; though even 
among those who profess with us the Christian faith, 
there may be but little apparent realisation of the 
blessed intimacies of Christian communion ; though 
Christian principles, and feelings, and motives, even 
among these, may often be misunderstood and mis- 
judged ; — still we are not alone. We have true 
sympathisers. An innumerable company is about 



314 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

US, invisible indeed to our eyes of sense, but not on 
that account less really present. For " we are come 
unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living 
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable 
company of angels, to the general assembly and 
Church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, 
and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of 
just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator 
of the new covenant." By this "great cloud of 
witnesses " are we encompassed, and they are deeply 
interested in our progress. We are needed to fill 
up the ranks of the company they form ; for " with- 
out us," saith the Apostle, " they are not made 
perfect." 

All the saints of the elder dispensation are there : 
patriarchs, prophets, kings, and priests ; and to 
them are joined the spirits of the Christian just : 
apostles, confessors, the noble army of martyrs, and 
the great company of the faithful ; and to these, the 
innumerable multitude of the angelic hosts ; and 
Christ above all. These are our witnesses : all these, 
looking with most intense interest upon us, watching 
our progress, and sympathising in all our conflicts 
and triumphs. All these — do we say ? Nay, may 
we not, must we not, in conformity to the un- 
equivocal declaration of the Apostle, say rather, 



SENSE OF SPIRITUAL COMPANIONSHIP, 315 



all are here ? here, in wonderful nearness to us and 
most intimate communion with us ! 

God is not afar off. He compasseth our path 
and our lying down, and spieth out all our ways. In 
Him we live, move, and have our being ; and He is 
never far from every one of us. 

Christ is not afar off. Though He hath ascended 
into the heavens — though, therefore, in the natural 
body, He is no longer on earth — yet is He still 
here : here, by spiritual presence always in His 
Church ; here, in our midst whenever two or three 
are gathered together in His name ; here, by the 
tokens of His own appointed and divinely quickened 
Sacraments ; here, in our hearts, if we faithfully 
receive these Sacraments and truly love Him : for 
this is His own promise : " I will not leave you 
comfortless, I will come to you." The world seeth 
me no more, but ye see me ; because I live, ye shall 
live also. If a man love me he will keep my words, 
and my Father will love him, and we will come 
unto him, and make our abode with him." 

The holy angels are not afar off. " Are they not 
all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them 
who shall be heirs of salvation .-* " Being thus sent 
forth, have we not the certain assurance that " the 
angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that 



3i6 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

fear Him " ? Has He not promised to give His 
angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways, 
and in their hands to bear us up, lest we dash our 
foot against a stone ? 

Surely, then, it is true that the world of spiritual 
beings is not separated from us by the existence of 
mere material space. It is not away in some far 
distant locality ; but, in some real though incom- 
prehensible sense, independently of space, it is even 
here ; and we, in so far as we are spiritual, are in 
it, and with its inhabitants may and do hold most 
intimate communion. 

It is, we are quite aware, impossible to insist on 
this truth now, without danger of being thought to 
countenance a very gross modern delusion. But no 
counterfeit of any truth should ever be allowed by 
its currency to displace the truth itself; and, in 
this case, we believe the currency of the counterfeit 
is really attributable to the fact that the revealed 
truth had been lost sight of, and there was a felt 
want of it and craving for it. It is impossible for 
a people, thinking and feeling in even a nominal 
Christian atmosphere, to rest finally, and be satisfied 
with resting, in bare materialism ; to come de- 
liberately and consciously to the conclusion that the 
only world in the universe is this gross earth, and 



SENSE OF SPIRITUAL COMPANIONSHIP. 317 

the only beings those that are constituted with 
material and animal natures, such as we see here 
around us. 

There is a spirit in man ; and, however it be 
degraded, however blinded, however besotted, it 
cannot be brought so low as to lose all consciousness 
of its superiority to the mere animal nature, and of 
its capacity for participation in something higher 
than the mere animal life. Therefore, when our 
modern nominally Christian civilisation had resulted 
in almost universal Sadducism ; when, with the Bible 
in our hands and the Creed on our lips, there was 
really no faith in the veritable existence of angels 
or of spirits, scarcely any real faith in the existence 
of God, save as the subject of a dogma or the symbol 
of material force, then we were ready for any form 
of spiritual delusion, and disposed to clutch with 
the blind eagerness of drowning men at anything 
which presented itself as evidence of spiritual 
existences. That it was possible to have descended 
so low, to have found the reputed evidence in so 
contemptible a form as it did actually assume, and 
was actually laid hold of in the development of our 
modern infidelity, no one could have anticipated or 
been able beforehand to have believed. But this 
only serves to show the more clearly how real was 



3l8 CHRISTIANITY IN DAIL V LIFE, 

the felt want of spiritual faith ; and therefore proves 
the more strongly the importance of clearly assert- 
ing, and clinging, in this as in all other respects, to 
the truth as it is revealed in the Gospel of Christ, 
the only revelation in which life and immortality 
are brought to light. 

Therefore, we have no fear in propounding, as 
an unquestionable truth of this revelation, that 
earthly natures are not the only natures with which 
we hold converse : that there is, most certainly, 
another world, besides this gross material world which 
we see around us, and that we are participators in 
another life beside that of its mere animal existence. 

How it is that the great world of spiritual beings 
is around us and present with us, without the con- 
ditions of space, we cannot, of course, understand. 
Let us remember that we can no more under- 
stand how it is that our own spiritual nature is 
present in or with our bodily nature ; and, never- 
theless, we are as clearly assured of the real present 
existence of the one as of the other. 

We know that God, the infinite Being, who is 
the Author and Sustainer of all other beings, is a 
spirit ; and doth not suffer Himself to be appre- 
hended by any of our bodily organs : He is neither 
seen, nor felt, nor heard ; and yet He is ever present 



SENSE OF SPIRITUAL COMPANIONSHIP. 319 



with US, present even here and now, present wher- 
ever we may go and be. 

The angels which are His ministering servants, 
thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten 
thousand in number, they too are spirits, and there- 
fore unapprehensible by our bodily senses — neither 
seen, nor heard, nor felt ; — but they too are really 
present : present even here, encamping round about 
us, holding us up when we are about to fall, minister- 
ing to our spiritual wants and rejoicing over us and 
with us when we turn from the world to God. 

And " the spirits of just men made perfect," — they 
too, being freed from the body, are no longer tangible 
or visible ; they have no longer connection with or 
interest in the things of time and sense : at rest in 
Christ they are perfectly free from all earthly dis- 
quietudes, and in the blissfulness of spiritual com- 
munion they are infinitely above all the conditions 
and modes of material intercourse ; but, as the 
Apostle plainly teaches, they too are still partici- 
pators with us in all the sympathies and affections 
of the spiritual life, and have a real interest in all 
our spiritual trials and triumphs. A veil of flesh 
and sense interposes between us and them : we 
cannot put aside or penetrate that veil by any 
material instrumentalities ; we cannot hold converse 



320 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE, 

with them any otherwise than by spiritual com- 
munion through Christ, the one ^Mediator and the 
common Head ; but it is, nevertheless, true and 
certain, that they are actually associated, by bonds 
of spiritual communion, most intimately with us. 
Doubtless, if the fleshly veil were removed, if 
our spiritual eye could exercise its faculty without 
earthly impediment, we should see, as Jacob saw, 
angels of God ascending and descending the ladder 
that joins heaven and earth. If our eyes could be 
opened, as the eyes of the servant of Elisha were 
opened, we should see ourselves, even now, to be 
standing, as he stood, " under the mountain of the 
Lord of hosts, and horses and chariots of fire round 
about." If we could look upon the essential realities 
of existence we should see that all the material 
things, with which we are now conversant by our 
corporeal organs, are nothing more than signs and 
tokens — that the whole material world is only a sort 
of sacrament, an outward and visible sign of inward 
and spiritual life. 

The time will come when our lips will be thus 
opened, and these wonders revealed : when all that 
we see now will fade awav before those brighter 
splendours that lie hid beneath ; when the objects 
that are cognisable by the eye of sense shall disappear, 



SENSE OF SPIRITUAL COMPANIONSHIP. 321 

as earthly objects vanish in the declining light of an 
expiring earthly day ; and the glorious realities of 
the spiritual world shall burst upon us, as the canopy 
of heaven, with its myriads of starry worlds, comes 
into sight when the garish light of an earthly day is 
extinguished. 

Meanwhile, seeing we know these things by faith, 
it is most reasonable, right, and our bounden duty 
that we should walk by faith, not by sight ; and our 
faith should be to us, in very deed, the substance of 
the things hoped for, and the evidence of the things 
not seen. Many eyes are upon us ; many hearts 
are beating for us. In God we live, move, and have 
our being. His angels are our protectors and 
guardians. His saints are our exemplars and wit- 
nesses. They have run the same race that we are 
running ; been opposed by the same obstacles ; tried 
by the same temptations ; withstood by the same 
foes. In them all they have overcome and con- 
quered. Now they have entered into their rest, a 
blissful rest in Christ their ever vital Head. He is 
our Head too, and we with them are members 
together of one body in Him. Therefore they are 
interested in us still. Therefore they commune 
with us still. Therefore they count themselves as 
" without us, not made perfect." 

21 



322 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

Oh, what high honour shall we esteem it to be in 
the Christian state, if we truly believe and realise 
this ! How it ennobles us ! How it raises us above 
the changes and chances of the earthly state ! How 
it raises us above the sway of carnal lusts and 
affections ! How can we be dispirited or disloyal ; 
how can there be anything in us that is base or 
sordid ; how, anything that is not honourable and 
pure, when we know that we are moving in such 
noble company and are surrounded by so holy, 
even by heavenly associates ? Wherefore, we may 
well heed this truth as one of the very highest 
practical import : — " Seeing we are encompassed 
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay 
aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily 
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that 
is set before us ; looking unto Jesus, the Author and 
Finisher of our faith ; who, for the joy that was 
set before Him, endured the cross, despising the 
shame, and is set down for ever at the right hand 
of God." 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN HUMAN CHAR A CTER. 



"The wind bloweth where it Usteth, and thou hearest the sound 
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth : so 
is every one that is born of the Spirit." — St. John iii. 8, 



T T was in a quiet hour of the night when Nico- 
demus, a Jewish rabbi, came to our Lord as 
an earnest inquirer ; and it is altogether probable, 
if not quite certain, that, in the solemn hush of that 
late hour, the low moaning of the wind as it swept 
through the narrow streets of the city, was the only 
sound that fell on the ear. In this, as His manner 
was, our Lord finds the illustration of the truth 
which He was seeking to inculcate. He had been 
speaking to the Jewish inquirer of the necessity of 
the new birth for living membership in His kingdom : 
a birth, not as into the natural state, of the flesh ; 
but, as into the sphere of spiritual being, of the 
Spirit who is the author and giver of life. The 
inquirer, who, though a Jewish rabbi, seems to 
have been singularly ignorant of religious truth, 
had asked. How can it be .'' when the sound of 
the evening breeze was heard ; and, at once, our 
Lord refers to it as a most apt illustration : " The 
wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the 



326 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh 
and whither it goeth : so is every one that is born 
of the Spirit." 

In our consideration of these significant words 
we must not miss the precise point of the illustra- 
tion. The first impression would be, that the 
comparison was between the indeterminateness — 
the apparent capriciousness and independence of 
man's foreknowledge or control — in the movement 
of the wind and the Spirit. But then the simile 
would have been carried through naturally and 
directly : " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and 
. . . thou canst not tell whence it cometh and 
whither it goeth : so the Spirit moves in ways that 
are beyond human knowledge or determination." 
This is not what our Lord did say in fact. The 
sentence as uttered by Him has an unexpected turn 
in the last clause : it reads not, " even so is the 
Spirit," or " so are the movements of the Spirit ; " 
but, " so is every one that is born of the Spirit." 
The point of the comparison is, therefore, not in 
the apparent capriciousness of the wind and the 
Spirit : though both are indeed independent of our 
previous determination ; but it is in the demonstrable 
proofs which both alike afford, of the preseiice and 
operation of unseen power. Nicodemus was reminded 



THE HOLY SPIRIT IiV HUMAN CHARACTER. 327 

that the difficulty in which his faith was halting, 
was a difficulty equally in the realm of nature 
as of grace ; that even the commonest natural 
agency was something that he could not see and 
never had seen. Yet there were to him demon- 
strable proofs of its existence and its vital power, 
in certain effects which were unquestionably apparent 
and which could not be accounted for except by 
such agency. Even so, he was bidden to remember, 
there are effects in the realm of spiritual being ; 
there are, in human character, gracious virtues which 
are unquestionable fruits of the Spirit of goodness ; 
and, therefore, that in every one whose life abounded 
in such grace, and brought forth such fruit, there 
was proof, as unquestionably demonstrative, of the 
regenerative presence and power of God the Holy 
Ghost. 

Would we learn the same lesson, it may help us, 
to think first, how very limited our knowledge must 
be if we rest merely in our sense-perceptions. 

When our Lord reminded Nicodemus that he had 
never seen, nor could see, the wind — that he knew 
of its presence, or even of its existence, only from its 
effects — He reminded him of what is true in every 
department of human knowledge. Let us take the 
illustration, and see how universally applicable it is. 



328 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

We have never seen the wind ; and if one were 
asked to describe it, to tell exactly what it is, much 
more, how it looks and what shape it has, or 
substance it is made of, we should be utterly at a 
loss. We might say, it is an invisible force of 
nature. But, here again, we should be only ex- 
pressing an exposition of our deeper and denser 
ignorance. " An invisible force of nature : " — what 
is a force t Have we ever seen force ? Can we 
tell what is its substance, if it have subsance ; or, 
^w^ its shape if it have shape ? We may attempt 
to define it, and say, it is effective power. But 
again we stumble on an abstract term power. What 
is power ? How do we know that there is any 
such thing in the universe ? Have we ever seen 
power ? Can we describe it ? If we were asked 
to make a representation of it, or even to tell 
exactly what it is, could we do, or say, anything 
but confess our utter ignorance ? And, this Nature^ 
about which there is so much scientific talk in our 
time : what is it ? They who claim to be pre- 
eminently the representatives of modern science, 
make especial claims to a knowledge of nature ; 
and some claim it to be a sufficiently clear account 
of the way in which the world was made to say 
that it was simply an evolution of nature. The 



THE HOLY SPIRIT IN HUMAN CHARACTER. 329 



same persons insist upon it that we have no right to 
claim that we know anything except that which is 
perceptible by our senses. It is surprising that they 
do not ask themselves, what they really mean by 
Nature^ and how they know of its existence ! Have 
they ever seen it ? Can they tell, from any sensible 
evidence, what it is ? whether a person, or sub- 
stance, or pure force ? and, if either of these or 
something else, what, and whence, its vital energy ? 
If the phrase "Natural Evolution" expresses all 
that we can know of the world's creation, it is 
certainly important to know what Natural Evolution, 
in fact, is. The word evolution has a learned 
sound, but it means simply, unfolding, or turning 
inside out. Natural Evolution, then, is simply 
Nature unfolding itself, or, turning itself outward 
from some germ and by some vital force within. 
Who has ever seen that germ or that vital force .? 
Who can tell when, or why, or how, the evolution 
started 1 Who can show us the visible or tangible 
energy which has within itself the potential existence 
of all things living ? or, tell what that energy really 
is, and what the real secret of its vital power .? 

Ah ! there was indeed an illustration of universal 
application in the Saviour's reminder to Nicodemus 
of his ignorance concerning the wind : " Thou 



330 CHRISTIANITY IN DAIL V LIFE. 

hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence 
it Cometh, and whither it goeth." 

Must we rest, then, in a conclusion of absolute 
agnosticism ? Must we admit that we do, or can, 
in truth, know absolutely nothing ? and, that what- 
ever seems to be true to us, is simply that which 
appears probable from our particular point of view ? 
Nay, nay, — very far indeed from it. The Saviour's 
illustration was not a reminder merely or chiefly of 
human ignorance. If it was intended to convince 
Nicodemus that " the things which do appear " in 
human sight are not the true realities of the universe, 
it was, at the same time, still more decidedly in- 
tended to lead him to the true knowledge of these 
realities. " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and 
thou hearest the sound thereof : " no question here 
that we know the wind when we hear it ; but the 
point is that what we hear is not the wind itself^ but 
only its sound. This means — to generalise the illus- 
tration — that the real motive-forces of all nature 
and life are beyond our perception, but all movements 
and forms in life and nature^ which we do perceive^ 
are demonstrative proofs of their existence. Granted, 
that no human eye has ever seen the wind ; yet, 
from the beginning of human existence its sound 
has been heard over all the earth ; the morning and 



THE HOLY SPIRIT IN HUMAN CHARACTER. 331 

evening breeze has gently whispered, and the mighty 
hurricane has roared in its destructive march ; in 
the rustling trees of every wood, over the waving 
grain of every field, upon the rippling surface of all 
waters, its movements have been perceived. These 
are its effects. They are unquestionable and posi- 
tively certain : and just as unquestionable and certain 
is the conclusion, that it which we rightly call the 
wind is the cause of these effects ; and then surely, 
still further, that its existence is as veritable as its 
movements, its being even more real than its effects. 
So of all other forms and movements in nature and 
life : these are what we see ; we can see nothing 
beyond these. But their very existence affords 
certain proof to us that there is something beyond. 
They are manifest effects ; but to every effect there 
must be a cause ; and it is the extremest absurdity 
of unreason to suppose that anything can be more 
real than that which caused it. 

Have we not here a sufficient reply to all agnostic 
or infidel theories of the natural creation } It is, 
they say, simply an evolution of nature. But if so, 
liiere can be nothing in the world which was not 
originally in nature. There is an abundance of life 
in the world : then it follows that nature must be 
alive ! There are, in countless ways and forms, 



332 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

manifestations of unlimited power : then nature 
must be all-powerful — that is, almighty ! There is, 
moreover, abundant evidence of supreme intelligence, 
such a skilful adjustment of parts to their whole, 
and such foreseeing arrangement of means for their 
true ends, as can come only from perfect wisdom : 
then nature must be perfectly and infinitely wise ! 
So, the conclusion must be that nature is a living, 
almighty, and perfectly v/ise being ! What can 
this be, according to any possible human conception, 
but a Person — perfect in consciousness and infinite 
in intelligence and will ? In other words, the 
infidel, who refuses to acknowledge God, makes a 
god of that which he calls Nature, being obliged 
still, by the inexorable laws of reason, to admit, 
what inspiration declares, that " the invisible things 
of Him are clearly seen, being perceived through 
the things that are made." * 

Now we are prepared for the direct application 
of the Saviour's illustration. No man hath seen or 
can see the Spirit of God : but all human life in the 
world is a manifestation of character, and there is, 
unquestionably, such a thing in character as good- 
ness. When we speak of a good man in distinction 
from a bad man, everj^body understands at once 

* Revised Version. 



THE HOLY SPIRIT IN HUMAN CHARACTER, 333 



exactly what is meant. We all know what goodness 
is. There is no doubt of its effective existence, no 
question of its dominating power in human character, 
its capability to make one man in all his actions 
and motives, in his whole life and being, an entirely 
different man from one of another sort. This good- 
ness is what we rightly call a personal quality. It 
is not itself a person, but it is an attribute of a 
personal character. It is a manifest effect in human 
life ; and, wherever seen in any person it character- 
ises that person : that is, it proves to us beyond a 
possibility of doubt, that, behind it and as its only 
possible source, there is a personal life which we do 
not see, but which is consciously and intelligently 
exercising good motives and intentions. There can 
be no conception of goodness without an implicit 
recognition of a good person, by whom it is exer- 
cised. Granted that we do not see the person ; 
granted that we cannot see the personal entity in 
which goodness originates ; yet, the effect which we 
do see and know is to us a demonstrative proof of 
his existence, and of his then conscious and inten- 
tional activity. 

This is the inevitable conclusion in every case. 
Well then, let the principle have its universal 
application. In all the past generations of human 



334 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 



life there have been, and all over the world there are 
now, good men and women. Wherever and how- 
ever manifested, this goodness is an effect; and if an 
effect, then, behind it, there must be a cause, and 
this cause must be, as we have already concluded, a 
personal being. In each individual life it is directly 
the individual person. But^ unless we are prepared 
to say that every individual life is self originated 
and self-inspired, the sure conclusion even of reason 
itself must be, that all our human goodness has its 
original source in a personal Being who is very 
goodness itself — that is, a Being, whom our heathen 
ancestors called the Great Spirit, and whom we 
know, under the teachings of Revelation, as the 
Spirit of God, or, as God the Holy Ghost. 

Yes, we may be sure of this, as sure as we can be 
of our own existence, that the Good Spirit — God 
the Holy Ghost — is, and from the beginning has 
been, ever imparting His heavenly impulses to 
inspire for good the hearts of the children of men 
on earth ; and in so far as they individually, in the 
exercise of human responsibility, and in accordance 
with the laws of human character, have accepted and 
acted upon these inspirations, in just that measure 
have good thoughts and deeds glorified and 
beatified the life of humanity on earth. Should one 



THE HOLY SPIRIT IN HUMAN CHARACTER. 335 

ask, if, on the other hand, the unquestionable exist- 
ence and prevalence of wickedness does not equally 
prove that there is a bad spirit also at work, we 
answer at once. Yes ; and therefore we have no 
difficulty in believing what the Scriptural revelation 
tells us concerning the personality of such a being : 
and we are the more thankful for the revelation, 
since it assures us at the same time, that his 
power is limited in both his present dominion and 
its duration, and that, in the final end, goodness 
will have a complete triumph over all badness, and 
there will be no more sin, as there will be no 
more death. 

Another question may be asked : — Is it not true 
that all human goodness comes from the Spirit of 
God ? Goodness, then, in heathenism ; goodness in 
the Christianised world, outside of the Church : 
Where, then, the need of baptism or the sacramental 
communion ? and what the practical import of the 
Saviour's declaration, " Except a man be born of 
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the 
kingdom of God " ? We answer : There are now 
living, and in every generation there have been 
living, on earth men and women of whom it is but 
the simple truth to say, not only, as it may be true 
of all, that they are capable, from the Holy Spirit's 



336 CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 

influences, of occasional good thoughts and deeds ; 
but, very much more, that their entire life and being 
are consciously and determinedly, yet with perfect 
spontaneity, in constant submission to the inspiring 
influences of the Holy Spirit ; so that in describing 
them you can find no words so true as to say, they 
have been born of the Spirit, their very life being 
truly the inspiration of His life. Find such a 
person anywhere (and you may find them in many 
a Christian home), and ask him, or her, where the 
breath of the spiritual life finds its atmosphere in 
most quickening and invigorating purity ? The 
answer will invariably be : Within the kingdom of 
Christ and in the regular and faithful reception of 
its sacramental ministrations ; their testimony invari- 
ably setting the seal of personal experience to the 
declaration of the Saviour, made in the beginning 
of Christian history, that, to enter in very truth into 
the kingdom of God, the Christian rule is that one 
must be born of water and of the Spirit. 

May we not, then, with reason bless God, for the 
setting up and perpetuation of His kingdom on 
earth ? And since it is our inestimable privilege 
to have our earthly life where we may breathe its 
atmosphere, and partake of its fullest and best 
inspirations, should we not see to it that we forfeit 



THE HOLY SPIRIT IN HUMAN CHARACTER. 337 

not this our high privilege, by our own personal 
refusal or neglect ? The Holy Spirit, even the Spirit 
of Christ the Incarnate God, is that Light which 
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 
As such, in His gracious goodness He has un- 
questionably enlightened, and will continue to 
enlighten, every one of us. But in the exercise of 
our own personal will, we may refuse to walk in 
His light ; we may shut our eyes to it and persist 
in walking on still in darkness, and then, it is 
revealed as a fearful possibility that we may even 
" grieve the Holy Spirit of God." 

Far better, surely, that we should use the high and 
heavenly capabilities of our manhood in gladly and 
gratefully submitting to His gracious inspirations. 
Far better that our life, even now and here, be, as 
it may, so " filled with the Spirit," so thoroughly 
quickened and enlightened by His heavenly inspira- 
tions, that it may be said in very truth of us, that 
we have been made a '' new creature," " born again " 
of Him ; translated out of darkness into the kingdom 
of God's incarnate Son. Let this be true of us, as 
it may : and then our earthly life becomes a heavenly 
citizenship, and, no matter what our place in it or 
our apparent success or unsuccess in its allotments , 
we are, even in it, assuredly quickened with the 

22 



JJ' 



CHRISTIANITY IN DAILY LIFE. 



power of an endless life, and made to be no longer 
mere children of humanity, but very sons and heirs 
of the Almighty and ever-living Father, by whom 
all things were made and in whom all things 
consist. 



THE END. 



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